Boy of Winter
by AxCfangirl
Summary: On her last day of school before winter break, Cagalli receives an unexpected confession from her friend. High school AU
1. The Confession

**A/N** : This is a sequel to "Girl of Summer." But you can read it as a stand-alone fic.

This was supposed to be one-shot. As with many of my other fics, however, it grew longer and longer and ended up as a four-chapter fic. I upload one chapter every week.

…

English is not my first language. Please bear with grammatical errors.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.**

* * *

 **Boy of Winter**

Chapter 1: The Confession

* * *

Hearing her name, Cagalli looked up from her phone and pushed herself off the wall. Her friend was walking down the corridor toward her. Walking fast, but not running like she would. Running inside the school buildings was against the rules and he was a stickler for rules.

"Sorry I made you wait," Athrun said even before he stopped in front of her.

"It's okay. I was checking Instagraph."

She held out her phone with a smile and showed him a picture a wildlife photographer she was following had posted: of an adventurous lion cub and its father seemingly preventing the cub from getting into danger.

Athrun nodded at the picture and shifted his eyes to her. "We were arguing what our next group project should be. Everyone wanted a different thing," he explained apologetically as they started walking.

They both had had a club meeting after school and he had asked her to wait after that because there was something he wanted to talk with her about alone. So they had decided to meet at this entrance nearest to the school's front gate as they often did.

"Did you guys come to an agreement?" she asked as he pushed the door open and they walked out.

She shivered a bit and tightened her scarf against the crisp, cold air. Then she discreetly slipped her left hand into her coat pocket. But not her right hand for he was on her right and would surely notice it.

Last winter, she had lost her balance while walking and almost fell face first to the ground for both her hands were inside her pockets and couldn't break her fall. Fortunately, Athrun had grabbed her and she had not gotten injured. Since then, though, he nagged her to keep her hands outside when he noticed them inside her pockets.

At the memories, she puckered her lips into a small pout. He was such a worrywart.

"No," he answered, oblivious to her thoughts. "I told them everyone should give a presentation about what we should make and why they think we should make it at the next meeting. Well, everyone who has an idea."

She gave him an agreeing nod. "That's a good idea."

She was the captain of the girls' volleyball club while he was the captain of the robotics club. Since they had taken the positions as the seniors retired from club activities in summer, they often exchanged opinions about how to manage club members or talked about the difficulty of being a captain.

"We watched some videos of Orb Girls again and discussed strategies for the next game," she told him, her eyes wandering around the schoolyard.

There were few students to be seen, which wasn't surprising since today was the last day of school before winter break. Everyone must have dashed out of the school as soon as they could in order to celebrate the end of the semester.

"The game is on the last Saturday before school starts, right?"

"Yeah. And we're going to win this time," she firmly announced.

The SEED High girls' volleyball team had lost when it had had a practice game with the Orb Girls' High team several months ago, and she couldn't wait to settle the score in the first match of Winter National Competition for Volleyball where the two teams were going to fight against each other.

He flashed her a smile. "You hate to lose so much, don't you."

"You're one to talk," she retorted, then stopped her feet to turn to him. "Hey, what was it that you wanted to talk about?" They were already at the school gate, where their paths parted if they were going home directly. "Do you want to go to Destiny or somewhere we can sit down and talk?"

Turning to fully face her, he slowly shook his head. "No. It's fine here."

He looked at her with a serious face. Her face imitated his expression.

"Cagalli, will you...go out with me?"

She gave him a blank face, but soon smiled. "Sure. When do you want to go?"

She wondered a little why he didn't get to the point and tell her about what was so important. But then, he was often reluctant to discuss his problems, so probably he was still preparing himself for the talk. Although she was hardly a patient person, she could give him some time.

Besides, it wasn't like she didn't want to talk about plans to go out. She had already made some with her family and other friends, but she welcomed more chances to have fun. She was determined to enjoy this winter break to its fullest since they would be too busy preparing for university entrance exams next year.

"Oh, do you have a place you want to go to? If not, how about skating? I haven't been to the rink this winter."

For some reason she didn't understand, Athrun stared at her with disbelief for a long moment before closing his eyes and heaving a sigh. He was still for a while. She was about to grab his shoulder and shake him to see whether he was all right when he finally opened his eyes, and then mouth.

"What I meant to say is..." He paused, slightly leaning his face forward to gaze into her eyes. "...I want to go on a date with you."

She blinked.

"A date?" she repeated the word, wondering whether she had heard it right.

"Yes."

"You mean, like, a date?" She still couldn't really comprehend what was happening.

"Yes," he answered patiently.

"But...why?"

He stared at her again, then narrowed his eyes. "Do you really not understand why someone wants to go on a date with you?"

She blushed, feeling stupid...and something else. "I was a bit confused. You caught me off guard," she said defensively and a little accusingly. "I understand what you mean. I'm not stupid."

"Good to hear," he said a little wryly. "So?"

"So?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

She dumbly stared at him. Her mind was blank. She didn't know how to answer. She just didn't.

He simply looked back. He appeared neither disappointed nor relieved that she had not given him the answer right away.

After a long moment of silence, he opened his mouth again. "You don't have to answer me right now. Think about it for a week. I'm going to my grandparents' house tomorrow."

"I...remember that," she managed to reply, feeling somewhat relieved at the change of subject.

"I'll be back on Thursday," he continued, "and the day after that—on twenty-eighth—I'll be waiting for you at Destiny." He pointed his finger at a cafe down the street. Since the school was located about midway between her home and his, they often hung out at the cafe. "That's the day when you are free during the day, right?"

She looked at him with mild surprise. "You remember my schedule?"

He was right. That day, she had a couple of lessons in cram school in the evening, but had no other plan.

She had probably mentioned that in front of him while discussing their plans during winter break with their mutual friends. The last practice of the girls' volleyball club in the year was on twenty-sixth, and she didn't yet have family duties on the twenty-eighth; she and Kira were going to spend time with her paternal grandparents who were going to stay with her family on twenty-ninth and thirtieth, and then, her family was going to visit her maternal grandfather for four days from thirty-first. However, it seemed all of her friends had already had some plans, mostly with their families, on her last free day in the year.

Thus, she had the day mostly free. She had not asked Athrun about the day or told him her specific schedule, though. She had just told him to let her know his schedule during winter break when he was sure about it, thinking to make a plan after that. He had never asked her about her free days before, either. She had not realized he had been paying attention to her schedule he overheard, let alone stored it in his memory.

He shrugged. "It's not hard to remember."

She pulled a face. "It isn't for _you_. You have such a smart brain."

"You just need to put more time and effort into studying. Then, your grades are surely going to improve," he said in a lecturing tone as he always did. Then he closed his mouth, gave his head a shake, and spoke again. "Anyway, I'll be there at noon and..."

He looked at her intensely, his green eyes looking deeper than usual, which caused her heart to flip. She felt as if his gaze literally seized her, squeezing her body—chest. As if it—he—was taking her to a completely different world. She swallowed nervously.

"...if you are okay with dating me, come to meet me." He slightly averted his eyes. "If you're not, then just don't show up. Don't bother to come to say no. ...I'd rather not see you for a while in that case."

She stared at him, then something came to her mind. "Wait. Is that why you didn't want to make plans for winter break?" She had tried to plan going out with him, but he had told her he wasn't sure about his schedule until he came back from his trip to his grandparents.

He exhaled and turned his eyes back to her. "I promise I'll try to keep things the way they have been after the break. I don't intend to ruin our friendship if you reject me. But it will take time. I'll need space, at least during the break."

Her heart sank at his words.

He put on a small smile. "Well, that's it for now. We'd better get going. We have buses to catch. See you...later, Cagalli."

He turned around to start walking toward his bus stop. She couldn't move. Her eyes were glued to his retreating back. She felt as if he was going far, far away.

A cry escaped her. "Athrun!"

He stopped, then, after a moment, turned back to her. She opened her mouth. But nothing came out. She just looked at him beseechingly. He simply stood there with an unreadable expression. She felt as if she saw him for the first time and swallowed her saliva. She still couldn't find a word to say.

After several minutes, he turned his back toward her to resume walking away. She stared at his back, feeling like crying. Awkwardly, she turned around and started to run.

* * *

In front of her house, Cagalli stopped her feet and took a long breath. After about ten minutes of walking, her heart rate that had increased due to running had mostly calmed down.

Wiping her forehead with the sleeve of her windbreaker, she started her cool-down routine. Mr. Kisaka—the coach for volleyball clubs and her P.E. teacher—was strict about stretching your muscles before and after exercise so that you were less likely to get injured; she always followed the teaching of the man she respected.

The routine was much shorter than what she did during P.E. or club practice and was over soon. Entering the house, she rubbed her face which was stiff due to the cold wind. As she kicked her shoes off, her brother poked his head out of the living room. Kira had come home just as she was going out for a run and seemed to have stayed in the living room since.

"Hey, I already prepared a bath. I thought you'd like it."

Unzipping her jacket, she turned around. "Thanks. That's great." She had just run for about an hour according to the clock on the shoe cabinet, and taking a bath sounded like a wonderful idea even though it was only a little past four, much earlier than their usual bath time.

"And Mom called. She'll be working late tonight, maybe stay at the hospital for the night," he informed her.

"Then I'll cook supper," she replied. "Is curry good?"

He thought a bit. "I'd like something less spicy."

She tried to remember what was in their refrigerator. "Fried rice? I think we have some shrimps." She could put some kimchi on hers.

"Sounds good. I want salmon flakes, too."

"Okay. Are you fine with having supper early? I'm already hungry."

"Sure. I think I can eat."

"Then, I'll get to it after my bath."

She started to walk down the corridor toward the kitchen to get some snacks before the bath. Kira was still hovering, looking like he had something else he wanted to say.

She stopped in front of him and slightly tilted her head, questioning him. He appeared conflicted. She waited, and after a long moment, he shook his head and retreated into the living room, back to the TV from the sound of it.

She wondered a little what that had been about, but soon shrugged it off and resumed walking. In the kitchen, she emptied a small bag of chips in a second, then headed for her room to grab her pajamas and underwear.

The bathroom air was moist and warm, but not enough to warm up her body which was starting to feel cold. She poured hot water over the cold floor and her body several times before reaching for her washcloth. Quickly finishing washing her body and hair, she slipped into the hot water and happily sighed. It felt like her body was melting, the heat seeping into her skin and warming her to the core. She rested her head on the edge of the bathtub, her eyes wandering around the bathroom.

After several minutes, though, her relaxed face turned a little gloomy as her mind went back to what had happened with Athrun. On her way back home from school and after reaching home, she had been trying to sort out her situation. But her head had just replayed what had happened over and over, going nowhere, like a hamster on a wheel. So she had decided to do some exercise, which helped clear her mind for a little while.

She shifted to sink the lower half of her face into the water. Bubbles floated up to the surface to burst and she gazed at them.

Why had he suddenly said something like that? How come he liked her that way to begin with? She had never realized that. Granted, he was rather secretive about his feelings, but she had thought she knew and understood him well. It seemed like she didn't actually, however. It seemed as if Athrun was almost a stranger to her.

Her heart tightened at the thought. Her eyes started to sting. Inhaling through her nose, she plunged her head into the water, her body completely underwater now. She gazed at the light on the ceiling, which was softened by water. Her hair was floating around her face like seaweeds. If there were yellow seaweeds. She couldn't quite remember whether there were. But since there were brightly colored fish and coral reefs, there must be yellow seaweeds as well, right? She might look it up when she got bored and had nothing better to do. Or she could ask someone.

At the face that came to her mind, her body froze. She unconsciously opened her mouth and then hurriedly emerged into the humid air, coughing up water.

She might send a text to Athrun and ask whether he knew anything about yellow seaweeds if their situation was different. Even though it was such a silly subject, he wouldn't be annoyed. They would probably keep exchanging texts for a while, talking about whatever came to their minds.

Now, however, she didn't feel like texting him. She wasn't even sure whether he would text back even if she did. She had never felt that way. But something had changed between them. He had changed it. He had shaken their relationship, what was between them, and it might never return to how it had been.

He had been her friend, a close and important friend. Someone she trusted wholeheartedly. She had believed he saw her in a similar way.

She felt like he had betrayed her.

She supposed it wasn't exactly what had happened. Perhaps. Maybe. Still, she couldn't get rid of that feeling of betrayal.

Pushing her hair from her face, she pursed her lips. "Stupid Athrun," she muttered and hit the water surface a few times.

* * *

Turning off the TV with a sigh, she stood up to go to her room. Kira had left for the bathroom after the supper and she had been surfing the channels for a while. But there was nothing that held her interest.

In her room, she picked up her phone and checked it. There were several new texts, but not from the person who had been occupying her mind in the past few hours.

Then again, he didn't often send a text or make a call. Especially not because he was bored or just wanted to talk with someone. Usually, she was the one to start their exchanges.

Besides, what did she expect him to say? That he had been just joking and so she should forget what he had said? Or that he was sorry about ambushing her like that, but really wanted to date her?

She didn't think she wanted to hear either.

She half-heartedly tapped his name, though she didn't mean to text him or call him. After staring at the small picture of him on the phone for a moment, she tapped a few more times. Now on the phone screen was the image she currently used for his caller ID.

It was from when he had been in middle school, before she had met him. Nicol, who had gone to the same middle school, had given her the picture. The brown-eyed boy himself was in it; his green hair was visible on the right edge of the screen and she could see his face if she dragged the picture sideways. Yzak and Dearka if she dragged it the other way.

With his plum red uniform crisp and some notebooks in his hands, Athrun looked exactly like a model student he was. His smile was soft, maybe because he had not been so close to whoever had taken this photograph.

As she gazed at the smile, her face turned into a frown. She had liked this picture because he looked somewhat different from the Athrun she knew, younger and shier. It had a sense of novelty. But now, she didn't find that appealing.

Her finger moved to change images. Swiping through the pictures she had on her phone, however, she couldn't find one she wanted to use instead. None of the photos of Athrun she had seemed like the one she was looking for. She didn't know what kind of picture she was looking for in the first place.

After several minutes of futile search, she gave up and started to text back to her other friends.

* * *

 **A/N** : It's about twenty months after they met in "Girl of Summer." They are in their second year of high school; high school is three years.

The image of Athrun mentioned in the last part is the one I used for the cover.

Thank you for reading. See you next week!

* * *

 ***posted 12/07/18***

 ***edited 06/30/19***


	2. Girl Talk, Twin Talk

English is not my first language. Please bear with grammatical errors.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.**

* * *

 **Boy of Winter**

Chapter 2: Girl Talk, Twin Talk

* * *

The sound of whistle snapped her back to reality. Her coach motioned to the students to get closer with his hands. Making a half-circle in front of him with her clubmates, Cagalli silently berated herself for being distracted. Granted, they had been doing their stretch routine which she completely memorized and could do without thinking. Still, she should be more attentive. She was the team captain and supposed to set an example to other members. Plus, Kisaka always said stretches were an important part of practice and they shouldn't take it lightly.

Kisaka gave pointers to some members and then, announced the end of today's practice.

"Thank you, sir!" The students bowed to the coach in unison.

Cagalli called out several names, reminding them they were in charge of clearing out today. The other members started walking toward their locker room. She stayed back to oversee the cleaning of the gym.

"Hibiki." She turned her eyes from her clubmates putting away nets and balls toward her coach who had walked to her side.

"You were a little distracted today." He gave her a stern look.

She hung her head low. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kisaka. I'll try to do better in the future."

He nodded, then regarded her, his face now showing a hint of concern. "I'm not saying it's affecting your performance, but it seems you've been lacking in concentration all week. Is everything all right?"

"I'm, um, a bit distressed by this thing that happened between me and a friend," she said vaguely, not comfortable with talking to a teacher about her "boy problem" though she liked and trusted him.

With a thoughtful look, he nodded again. "Well, if there's anything you need, you know where to find me."

"I do. Thanks, sir."

Giving a pat to her shoulder, the coach left toward men's locker room. After helping the cleaning and making sure everything was fine, she entered the girls' volleyball club's locker room filled with chatter of her clubmates. The first thing she did was seek out her friend instead of going to her locker.

"Miri."

Buttoning her shirt, the brunette looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Do you have time after this? I need to talk to you about something."

The brief talk with the coach had made her want to seek advice from her friend. After all, trying to solve this problem on her own wasn't working. Her head would just remain a hamster.

She had been so troubled that she had eaten only four pieces of Christmas cakes this year: one at a dinner at an orphanage following a concert Lacus, her idol friend, held there a few days before Christmas Day every year; one at a party she had had with her brother and their friends on Christmas Eve; one at a dinner with her brother and parents on Christmas Day; and one when she and Kira had been clearing out the leftovers for lunch today. She seriously needed to solve this problem fast, before she started to lose weight due to distress or something.

"Sure. Destiny?" Miriallia replied.

Cagalli nodded.

"Are you going to Destiny?" Fllay joined their conversation, brushing her hair. "I'm feeling like going there, too."

Miriallia sent Cagalli a questioning look. Cagalli thought a little, then shrugged. "Okay, let's go together then."

She figured asking two people for advice was probably better than asking one person. Plus, Fllay must know a lot about this romance and relationship stuff, since the redhead often went out with boys who weren't exactly her friends but not boyfriends, either.

Starting to feel better at the prospect of receiving good advice, she hurried to change her clothes. It was fortunate that she didn't have any lessons in cram school today; she could spend as much time as she wanted talking with her friends.

The thought might have somewhat dampened her mood five minutes ago for it reminded her of Athrun, and then of the situation between them. He was actually the one who had suggested she start going to cram school earlier, not after becoming a senior as she had originally thought. He had laid out the advantages of beginning to prepare for college entrance exams in advance, which impressed her. Her mother and grandfather had agreed and she had started taking one-on-one lessons in a cram school near her home this summer.

But now, she was too eager for the talk with her friends to get deflated. Finishing changing into her school uniform, she grabbed her gym bag and trotted toward Miriallia and Fllay.

* * *

"So, what is it?" Miriallia asked as the three sat at a round table inside the cafe.

"What's what?" Fllay asked before sipping her rose tea.

"Cagalli wanted to talk about something," Miriallia answered, opening a hazelnut creamer and pouring it into her coffee.

The gray eyes and the teal eyes turned to Cagalli. "Well..." She looked down at her hot chocolate, warming her hands with the cup. She blew on the drink several times before starting to speak.

"It's about Athrun. He, um, asked me to go out with him. I mean, not the kind of going out we do all the time, but..."

"He asked you out on a date," Miriallia casually finished for her.

Cagalli blinked. "Yeah."

"What did you say?" Miriallia asked curiously.

"Well, I haven't given him the answer yet." She explained about her and Athrun's "arrangement" to meet at this cafe on Friday.

"And you want our advice on what to do," Miriallia said it more like a statement than a question.

Cagalli blinked again. "That's right." Her brunette friend had grasped the situation so quickly. Maybe because she knew Cagalli well.

"But what's there to think about?" Fllay seemed to be genuinely unable to understand. "You two are practically dating already."

"We're just friends. Well...we were, at least," Cagalli said uncertainly.

She wasn't sure whether they could still be called friends after one of them asked the other out. But if not, what were they then? If she accepted him, they would be boyfriend and girlfriend. But if she didn't? Athrun had said he would try to maintain their friendship even if she rejected him. But what if he couldn't despite trying? They had not had any contact for five days, and if her answer was no, this would probably continue until the end of the break, at least.

Her chest started to feel heavy. She clutched her cup and drunk the hot chocolate. The sweet liquid warmed her body and she exhaled, feeling a little better.

She wiped the whipped cream off her nose with a finger, then stopped, staring at the finger. When she came here with Athrun, he always wiped the cream off her nose with a smile. She was so used to it that she even waited for him to notice the cream on her nose and wipe it off instead of doing it herself.

She put her cup on the table with some force and hot chocolate spilled a little.

Standing up from the chair and licking the cream off her finger, she strode over to the counter to grab a plastic spoon. She walked back to the table and plopped down into her chair. Then, compressing her lips into a tight line, she stirred her hot chocolate with the spoon until the whipped cream completely dissolved.

"You okay?" Miriallia asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I'm fine," Cagalli firmly said. She was feeling a bit angry at Athrun, for he was putting her into this situation, and the anger had actually kicked the heaviness out of her chest.

She reached for her banana nut muffin. "Anyway, I don't know if I want to date him. And I thought maybe you can help me figure it out?" She bit into the muffin, glancing at her friends.

Miriallia took a sip with a thoughtful look. "I think one of the things to consider is, if you turn him down, he may date someone else." She paused. "Like Meer Campbell. Are you okay with it?"

Cagalli scoffed. "He'd never date a mean girl like her."

Even though she went to a different school, the dark-haired girl who was a distant relative of their friend Lacus sometimes came to Lacus's tea parties and invited herself when Athrun went out with his friends, and thus was a familiar face to them. Not that they were friends with Meer. Most of Meer's attention was focused on the boy she claimed as her only true love: Athrun. She was usually too busy making moves on him to notice other people except Cagalli. Being the girl closest to Athrun, Cagalli often became the target of Meer's jealousy and was far from fond of the younger girl.

Fllay smirked. "Maybe I'll go after him. He'll be easier to win over when he's heartbroken."

Cagalli looked at her with surprise. "You're interested in him?"

Fllay shrugged her shoulders. "Sure. He got looks and brains. Good at sports, too. Who wouldn't want him?"

"Well, I don't." Miriallia playfully waved her hand. "Don't get me wrong. I like Athrun. He's a good friend. But he's, how can I say...kinda high-maintenance? And a bit of a control freak."

"Yeah, he needs to loosen up more often," Cagalli agreed. "And he sometimes makes me worry a lot about him." Then she huffed. "Though he denies he is worrisome and needs taking care of at times. He always says I'm the one causing other people worries."

"That's true, too," Miriallia pointed out. "You two are, like, alike in different ways. Maybe that's why he fell for you."

Cagalli fidgeted, not knowing how to respond, and took a huge bite of her muffin. Miriallia turned her face toward Fllay.

"And he seems to have eyes for no other girl, right, Fllay?" the brunette said in a teasing tone.

The redhead gave her a sidelong glance, scoffing. "He's simply clueless."

Cagalli looked between her two friends. "What are you talking about?"

Miriallia sent an amused look to Fllay who sighed. "I flirted with him several times, but he never flirted back," the redhead explained before finishing her tea.

Cagalli widened her eyes. "When? I never saw you doing it."

"I wasn't too obvious and you just didn't notice it. You're oblivious," Fllay replied in an indifferent tone, digging a mirror and a pink lip balm out of her bag.

"I'm not," Cagalli protested.

"Actually, you kinda are," Miriallia chimed in. "One time, you, Athrun, and Fllay were talking and she was flirting with him. But neither you nor Athrun noticed what she was doing." She let out a chuckle. "It was fun to watch." Cagalli frowned, trying to figure out when it had happened.

Fllay made a scowl. "I don't like guys who don't notice me."

"But you kept flirting with Athrun," Miriallia pointed out.

"He's too good a catch to give up easily. But I stopped once I realized he liked Cagalli."

Cagalli leaned toward Fllay. "You knew? When did he tell you?"

Both of her friends looked at her as if she had said a stupid thing. "Do you really think he told Fllay about his feelings for you? He hardly talks to her without you," Miriallia said.

"But how did she know it then?" Cagalli looked at Fllay, but her gray-eyed friend shook her head and looked into her mirror to put on lip balm. Cagalli shifted her eyes to her other friend.

"It was kinda obvious," Miriallia explained. "Well, people who don't know Athrun well may not see it, but all of his friends know he's into you."

"What?" Cagalli stared at the brunette in disbelief. "All of you?"

Miriallia gave a nod. "Even Yzak."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

Miriallia raised her eyebrows. "I wouldn't do such a thing to my friend."

"What do you mean? I would've appreciated it if you'd told me."

"Not you. Athrun. It's his feelings, so he should be the one to tell you about them."

Cagalli thought a little, then sighed. "Yeah, you're right."

She put her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her palms. "I just wish I'd known it earlier. Then, I would've had more time to think about it. Friday is the day after tomorrow and I still don't know what to do..."

After a short silence, Miriallia gently asked, "Do you remember when Ahmed asked you out?"

Cagalli's eyes turned to her. "Yeah?"

"You told me the idea of dating him felt weird to you."

Remembering the time her friend from childhood had confessed to her in middle school, Cagalli replied, "Yeah, but it's more like the idea of kissing him, I think. You told me to imagine myself kissing him on lips."

"Right." Miriallia nodded. "Have you tried it with Athrun?"

"Actually...I haven't. It didn't occur to me." Cagalli felt stupid for not remembering her friend's advice which had been useful in a similar situation. It must be a proof of how disoriented she had been. Not a proof of how stupid she was. Totally not.

Her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to picture herself kissing Athrun. He would probably hold her in his arms and look at her with those intense eyes he had had when he told her he wanted to date her. So intense that they captured all her attention. Their bodies might be pressed against each other; she knew his body was lean and firm. And that beautiful face of his would come nearer and nearer to hers until their lips touched. Would his lips be soft? How would the kiss taste? Would he use his tongue?

Some kiss stories she had heard came to her mind. These things might happen to her and Athrun. At the thought, her heart beat even faster and her face burned up. She shook her head and tried to calm herself.

"Well?"

At Miriallia's voice, she looked up to find both her friends curiously watching her. She averted her face, aware that her heart and cheeks were far from normal yet.

"Um, it makes me feel weird...but in a different way from imagining kissing Ahmed."

Miriallia and Fllay didn't say anything, seemingly waiting for her to say more.

She didn't continue, though, and after a moment, Fllay complained, "That's it?"

"It's just...weird, okay?" Cagalli wasn't sure how else to describe the feeling. Tingly, maybe? But she didn't say it; she was reluctant to explain the feeling in details to begin with. It felt so...private.

She felt somewhat jittery and shuffled in her seat. Even though she had just finished her practice, maybe she could use some jogging. But since she couldn't go for a run right now, she moved her cup and plate around a little before gulping down the last of her muffin.

Miriallia opened her mouth. "Well then, you'd better think about how and why kissing Athrun and kissing Ahmed are different." Cagalli nodded, relieved that she seemed to be off the hook.

"If you want my advice, I say, just go for it," Fllay said, going back to examining her nails. "Why not? Like I said, he's a good catch. And you like him. You don't have to be madly in love with him to date him." Cagalli frowned.

"That can work," Miriallia agreed. "Maybe you and Athrun can have something like a trial period. Go out on a few dates and see how you like it, and then, decide if you officially become a couple."

"We can do something like that?" Cagalli asked with mild surprise.

"Of course. Some people do it," Miriallia assured her.

Cagalli thought a little. "How different would our...date be from our usual going out, though?" She had never gone on a date and couldn't really imagine what it was like.

"You may hold hands with him while walking," Miriallia suggested. "You haven't done that before, have you?"

Cagalli thought again. "Not while walking, I don't think. Though I pull his arm, or he pulls my arm all the time."

"Right. You're used to touching each other. But it may feel different when you do it as a couple, not as friends." Miriallia's eyes became distant. "It was like that when Tolle and me started dating. We were used to going out together or even some touching, but when we went on dates, it felt different. A bit awkward at first, yet exciting and wonderful." Her tone and face were nostalgic and sad.

Tolle had been Miriallia and Cagalli's childhood friend who had gone to a different high school. Miriallia and he had started dating in their second year of middle school and they had been a good couple. However, he had been killed in an accident in the beginning of this year. His motorcycle had slipped in the rain; his body had been thrown on the road and hit by a car.

Miriallia had been an emotional wreck, crying her eyes out in one minute and then angry at Tolle for riding a motorcycle in the next; she had not been happy when he had gotten a license. Cagalli had been sad and worried about Miriallia. Although the brunette had gradually recovered from her grief, she still struggled with her boyfriend's death from time to time.

Cagalli moved her chair toward Miriallia's and circled her arms around the brunette's shoulder. Miriallia blinked, then rested her head against Cagalli's.

A melancholic silence hung over them. Fllay had gone to middle school with Tolle and been friendly with him even though she wasn't as close to him as Miriallia or Cagalli. His death had shocked all of them to some extent.

After a minute, Miriallia straightened her head and patted Cagalli's arm. "Well, that's my experience, anyway. I hope you find it helpful," she said in a lighter tone, trying to lift their mood.

"If you don't feel different when you go on a date with Athrun, you can just kiss him. It would certainly make you feel different," Fllay said with a grin. Releasing her hold on Miriallia, Cagalli glared at the redhead, her face warming up again.

"You may also wear different kind of clothes when you go on a date," Miriallia said in a cheerful tone, though it sounded a bit too cheerful.

Fllay snapped her fingers. "Hey, you're gonna need new clothes. Something pretty. We should go shopping."

"We totally should," Miriallia agreed, a smile spreading over her face.

"You don't know if I'm going on a date," Cagalli protested. "I haven't decided my answer to Athrun yet."

"Whatever." Fllay stood up, grabbing her bag. "We are going shopping. Period." Miriallia and Cagalli followed suit, finishing their drinks.

"Why can't you just leave me alone? You're so bossy," Cagalli grumbled as they started walking, though there was no heat in her voice.

She didn't care much for shopping, but liked spending time with her friends. Besides, the prospect of shopping seemed to have genuinely perked up Miriallia to an extent. Cagalli was still worried about her and willing to keep her company until the brunette was satisfied.

Well, she wasn't exactly ready to spend a ridiculously long time just sitting outside fitting rooms and waiting for her friends or go along with their attempts to make her wear some overly girly clothes. But her friends knew her limits, though they sometimes tried to push them. She just hoped today wouldn't be one of those times.

* * *

As she entered her room, she made beeline to her bed, throwing her bags on the floor. Her gym bag and shopping bag. She had refused to buy any of the clothes Miriallia and Fllay had forced on her, but had not been able to resist buying a pair of black lace up boots made of artificial leather. They were so cool, looking similar to those the heroine of _P.I. Yula_ , a TV show she loved, wore, which looked fantastic when Yula the heroine kicked the hell out of bad people. The heels of the boots she had bought were actually a bit too high for her liking, but it was all right. She would just save them for a special occasion.

And she had _not_ bought them for Friday. As she had told her friends, she had not decided whether to go and meet Athrun yet.

She jumped onto her bed, landing on her stomach, and exhaled a long breath, tired from the hours of shopping. As she turned on a heater next to the bed and snuggled into the covers, her mind half-heartedly went through the advice her friends had given her.

She was sure Athrun wouldn't date Meer even if he was heartbroken. But he might date someone else, someone nicer. Maybe Fllay. Fllay wasn't the nicest person in the world, but Cagalli liked her. Her passionate personality, her single-minded determination to achieve her goal, her bluntness, her cleverness, her fearless effort to get what she wanted without caring about what other people said, and her ability to admit her faults and try to be a better person. Fllay was a good friend and teammate to Cagalli, and Athrun seemed to like the redhead as well, at least better than Meer. He didn't try to avoid Fllay like he did with Meer. He might decide to date Fllay after Cagalli turned him down. Then he would hold the redhead and kiss her and more.

Feeling a queasy sensation in her stomach, she knitted her eyebrows. She had not seriously thought about the possibility of Athrun dating a girl before. He had never seemed interested, always keeping his distance from girls who approached him. Now that she considered the possibility, she found that she didn't like the idea. But did it mean she wanted to date him herself?

She had not really liked the idea of Kira dating Lacus, either. Not at first, anyway. It had been different from when he had started dating Fllay in middle school. At that time, Cagalli had just been disgusted with the fact that he had stolen his friend's girlfriend; and she had not been close to Fllay or really liked the redhead then. She had just thought she didn't like her brother's romantic relationship for those reasons.

On the contrary, she had always liked Lacus and admitted Kira and Lacus made a cute couple. And yet, she still had found herself not wholeheartedly happy for them when Kira had told her that he and Lacus were dating now. She had felt like her brother was being taken away from her, though she tried to hide it for the thought sounded childish even to her own ears. Athrun was the only one she had confided in mostly because she had thought he might be feeling similarly, with his best friend and the girl who might have been his girlfriend being a couple now. Although he said he wasn't really feeling like her, Athrun had gone to a bowling alley and then a game arcade with her, keeping her company until she felt better.

She had gotten used to Kira and Lacus being a couple since then and didn't have any negative feelings about it anymore. Would she become okay with Athrun dating someone in time like she had with Kira? She wasn't so sure about it. At the same time, though, she didn't want to date him just because she didn't like him dating another girl. It seemed insincere. Unfair to Athrun.

She let out a sigh. Why did this romance thing have to be so complicated?

She turned over to slither about on her back and her head ended up hanging over the edge of the bed. She absently looked around her room which was upside down. She should probably clean up soon, before her mother scolded her for untidiness.

"Cagalli." She moved her eyes to find her brother standing at the door upside down. "Can we talk?" As usual, Kira walked into the room before she gave an answer.

She shrugged, or at least moved her shoulders. "Sure." She rolled over and sat up, untangling herself from the covers and swinging her legs off the bed. Kira moved the heater with his foot to make more space before sitting on the bed next to her.

"So..." —he studied her face— "have you given Athrun the answer yet?"

She fully turned to him. "You know it, too?"

"Who else knows?" he curiously asked.

"Miri and Fllay. Well, I told them, but they already knew Athrun liked me." She paused, then narrowed her eyes. "You also know he asked me out. Not just his liking me. Did he tell you about it?"

"Not exactly. I just guessed when he wanted to talk to you alone. I think Miri guessed it too, when you couldn't go home with her as usual because of it."

She frowned a little, remembering that Miriallia had understood her situation very fast. It seemed like everyone knew about her and Athrun's relationship better than she did, and she didn't like that. Shouldn't she be kept in a loop a bit more since it was _her_ relationship?

Her lips formed a pout. "Couldn't you, like, drop me hints about his feelings for me when you noticed them?" she complained.

She understood that her brother or her friends had not wanted to tell her until Athrun was ready to do it himself. But they could have helped her prepare for it, at least.

"Actually, I did," Kira casually said. "Athrun did it himself, too. Trying to let you know his feelings subtly. You just didn't get the hints, and he was frustrated. So I told him he should be more direct unless he wanted to waste all high school years."

She stared at her brother with wide eyes. "You were giving him advice, you mean?"

"Yup. That's what friends do, hmm? Helping each other."

"You're my brother!" She pointed an accusing finger at his nose. "You should be on _my_ side. Not his."

"I am," he replied, pushing her hand away from his face. "Athrun's a good guy. If you date a guy, I'd like it to be him rather than some jerk."

She huffed. "I'm totally fine on my own, without you setting me up with your best friend."

He gave a shrug. "It's not like I plotted to make Athrun fall in love with you. He just did."

She hesitated for a while before turning her eyes away from him and asking, "Do you know when he started to have feelings for me?"

He thought a little. "Well, he never told me exactly. But I noticed he was oddly friendly to you right from the beginning. Even though he's kinda shy with new people, you know."

She shrugged. "He probably felt at ease since I'm your sister."

"Maybe," he agreed. "Still, I found it odd and then, he seemed to dislike you being friendly with other guys."

She looked at him with surprise. "He did?"

"Yeah. Not with our friends. Not really. But when you were, like, having fun with some other guy, he seemed a bit jealous. Speaking of jealousy, don't you remember that time when some guys hit on you last summer? When we went to Grandpa's villa?"

"I think they were more hitting on Lacus. They realized she was the Lacus Clyne, and looked excited," she commented.

"Either way, Athrun was uncharacteristically aggressive toward them."

"I thought he was just being overprotective like you."

"I'm not _over_ protective," he insisted.

She rolled her eyes. Her brother, though wearing a smile, had also been rather aggressive toward the two guys who had tried to pick up her and the pinkette. It might have been because of Lacus, but still.

She had been actually somewhat offended by the boys' behavior. She had been sure she could take care of the guys herself. In fact, she had been ready to hit one of the guys with a snorkel in her hand before her brother and friend intervened, for the guy had been persistently trying to touch Lacus even though the songstress kept avoiding his hand. And she would have preferred if either Kira or Athrun looked after Lacus so that she could fight off the guys without worrying about protecting the other girl.

Though a fight had never happened in the end. Soga, the caretaker of her grandfather's villa who had been accompanying them as their chauffeur, had stepped in to ask the guys to leave in a polite but intimidating way; the man had said he would call the police or use force—whichever he liked—if the request was unmet. He had been pretty impressive, succeeding in scaring off the two guys.

"Anyway," Kira continued as she blinked, "I became curious, so I asked him if he liked you."

She stared at him, her full attention back on him. "What did he say?"

"He kept dodging the question, mumbling, like, you're a good friend and he enjoys spending time with you and that kind of stuff. Until after his birthday. A little after that surprise party, he told me—without me asking—he liked you and wanted you to be his girlfriend." Kira lifted his shoulder, an amused smile playing on his lips. "Though I was already sure by then. During the party, he looked like he's totally smitten with you."

His words stirred her memory and her cheeks warmed up. She pulled her knee against her chest and hugged it, her eyes on her other toe which wiggled nervously.

After a moment, her brother simply said, "You haven't given him the answer yet."

"No...I don't know it yet."

"You asked Miri and Fllay for advice, I suppose?"

"Yeah. They suggested we go out on a date several times before I decide if we get into a real relationship. They said some people do it," she explained, tossing around the idea.

Did that kind of thing really work? Would her feelings change just by going on a few dates with Athrun? Wasn't it a bit unfair to him if she just got his hopes up and then rejected him? Wouldn't it hurt him more than simply turning him down did?

"I haven't told you why I started dating Lacus, yeah?"

Looking back at Kira, she tilted her head. "Isn't that because you liked her?"

"Sure. She's pretty and nice. I did like her. But I wasn't exactly in love with her when I agreed to be her boyfriend." The pinkette, whom they had met through Athrun last year, had asked Kira out in this February, on her birthday, and he had accepted it. "I thought I could probably love her and I was willing to try." He gave her a smile. "And I'm glad I did. I'm happy now."

Cagalli regarded his encouraging face. She knew he meant it, and Fllay had had a point. What reasons did she have not to date Athrun? She liked him. She didn't dislike the idea of kissing him. She could at least try. Well, she wasn't sure whether he was okay with dating her even though she was unsure of her feelings for him. If he said yes, though, they could date for a while and see how it would turn out. It seemed like a good enough plan. It could work for her and Athrun like it had for Kira and Lacus.

Yet, there was something that made her hesitant to proceed with the plan. She just didn't know what it was.

Flopping back on the bed, she exhaled a long, frustrated sigh. Maybe she was reluctant because this dating thing was new to her? Dating had always felt to her like something other people did, not she. She was happy with her family, friends, volleyball, and other fun stuff. Not to mention they, and school, kept her rather too busy to spare time for romance.

The closest she had had to romance was her sort-of-crush on a young man she had met at her grandfather's stable when fourteen. Her grandfather often took her to see his horses while her stay at his manor. She loved animals and enjoyed riding horses. She even had her own horse, a chestnut mare called Rouge, which he had given her as a present for her twelfth birthday. On the summer when she had been fourteen, there had been a young man working at the stable as a summer job. He had had a knack for communicating with horses and easily calmed her Rouge that was famous for her feistiness. His skill had impressed her and rouse her interest in him. He had good-naturedly answered her endless stream of questions and given her some tips. She had spent much longer time at the stable during the summer than usual; she had even prolonged her stay at her grandfather's manor, staying there even after her mother and brother had gone home. She had become disappointed and despondent when the guy had told her he had decided to take a job at another stable a little before she went home.

But she had not exactly wanted to date him or spent a lot of time fantasizing about kissing him and making out with him like other girls said they did with their crushes. All she had wanted was improve her riding skills so that he would praise her, become as good with horses as him, or go on a horseback ride with him. Maybe because he had been more than five years older than she was and treated her like a little sister. She might not have minded kissing him, but she had not been able to imagine him wanting to kiss her. He would have probably laughed and called her silly if she had told him she wanted to kiss him in a romantic way.

Ahmed had probably wanted to kiss her, but she had not felt like kissing him. She had not liked the other guys who had asked her out enough to try. This was the first time she had seriously thought about getting into a relationship with someone specific.

She glanced at her brother who was lying beside her now. "Kira?"

"Yeah?"

"I like Athrun."

"I know."

"A lot."

"I know."

"I just...don't want to lose him."

The feeling Athrun was going far and far away from her came back and her heart tightened. She pressed a hand against her chest. A warm hand touched her other hand and took it. Her eyes on the ceiling, she clutched the hand.

"You know, Cagalli, if you and Athrun get into a relationship, it doesn't mean you'll lose him as a friend."

She moved her face to look at him. "What do you mean?"

Her brother's eyes were warm like his hand. "You two can still be friends while you're dating. You can have both a friendship and a romance with him."

"...Really?"

"Sure. It's just you'll have more things you do with Athrun. Not less. So you don't have to be afraid.

"Of course it won't be exactly the same. Some things will change. But the same can be said if you two stay friends, right? Everything and everyone change. No matter what the name of your relationship is, though, it won't change you and Athrun are...well, you and Athrun. You two can have whatever you two want and be however you two want to be."

She stared at her brother for a minute before saying, "You sound like Lacus."

He blinked. "Do I?" He thought a little before saying with a faint blush, "She's been rubbing off on me, I guess."

"I bet." She thoughtfully added, "It seems you've learned a lot in your relationship with Lacus." Then she pretended to think. "Or you know a lot about this kind of stuff because of that thing with Fllay and Ssigh in middle school?"

He made a face and flicked her forehead. She butted the hand, giggling.

After a little, she shifted her eyes back to the ceiling and thoughtfully said, "You know, I remember thinking that romance might not go quite well with friendship when you and Fllay and Ssigh were fighting. Like you lose your friends when you start dating or something like that. I'd heard people complain about their friend getting distant because that person was busy dating.

"Miri said it wasn't true and pointed out she and Tolle hadn't lost their friends because of their relationship. And I thought she was right. But I worried about that again when Ahmed confessed to me and we kind of drifted apart."

She had totally forgotten about it until now, probably because there had not been much relationship drama around her in high school. There had been a fight between Miriallia and Dearka after Tolle's death; trying to console Miriallia, Dearka had thoughtlessly said, "Well, at least he had more sense than to get you on the back of his motorcycle and take you with him. I bet he'd be relieved," which got Miriallia mad. Cagalli had learned from Fllay that Dearka had some romantic feelings for Miriallia while the brunette was giving the blond the silent treatment. It seemed Miriallia herself had been aware of Dearka's intention behind what looked like friendly flirting, and the knowledge had affected her reaction about his comment. The fight had not grown as serious as the one with Kira, Fllay, and Ssigh, though. Not to mention Cagalli had been too concerned about Miriallia to worry about anything else.

And that was pretty much it. She had not had much opportunity to worry—until Athrun's confession.

"You and Ahmed became close again after some time, though," Kira gently reminded her. "Me and Fllay and Ssigh are fine now, too. Even though our relationships were sour for a while."

"Yeah."

They fell silent again. After a moment, their mother yelled from downstairs. "Dinner's ready!"

"Ah, good. I'm hungry." Kira got off the bed.

After turning off the heater, Cagalli stood up as well and said, "Hey." Without stopping, he looked at her over his shoulder. "Thanks."

"No problem." He grinned. "It's a part of my job as your older brother, after all."

It was an inside joke. Officially, Cagalli was the older of the twins. But their mother remembered hearing "It's a boy" when her first child had been born. They weren't sure whether the hospital staff had made a mistake and put wrong information on the papers or Via's memories were mixed up due to her pain and fatigue. Their father had not been there when the twins were born due to his work; none of their relatives had made it before both the twins were born. Therefore, there was no one who could tell the truth.

Kira was usually fine with being the younger one, but once in a while, he brought up the possibility of his being the firstborn.

"I'm the older one!" Cagalli automatically yelled as she always did. Although Kira had never seemed serious about it, she couldn't just let him go around telling an untruth; someone might actually believe it.

Laughing, he ran down the stairs. She followed with a smile.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you for reading. See you next week!

…

 **To PegasusInCage:**

Thank you for your review for the first chapter, and for your reviews for my other fics. And yes, Cagalli wanted to change the photo of Athrun to another photo because of his smile. You will understand it better after reading the third chapter, I hope.

* * *

 ***posted 12/14/18***

 ***edited 06/30/19***


	3. Memories

English is not my first language. Please bear with grammatical errors.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.**

* * *

 **Boy of Winter**

Chapter 3: Memories

* * *

Her hair still a little damp from bath and warm from hair dryer, Cagalli walked into her room—which was warm thanks to her brother who had turned on the air conditioner in her room at her request when he had gone to upstairs after the dinner—to sit at her desk and pick up her phone. Ignoring new texts, she opened Athrun's contact page to gaze at the photo. The fact that Athrun in the picture looked different from the way she knew he was didn't bother her anymore. Kira was right. Everything changed. Nothing stayed the same. There were sides of Athrun she had not known, sides she didn't know. Maybe there would always be.

But it didn't mean she didn't know him. She knew him, various sides of him, and they were just as real as the sides of him she didn't know.

On an impulse, she put her phone down to start up her laptop. Among many icons—her desktop looked as untidy as her room, though she usually knew where things were in both—the cursor picked the Photo folder and opened it.

The newest image in the folder was of her and Athrun studying, or more like Athrun tutoring her, from a few weeks ago. They had been studying in her homeroom for the finals with their friends. Miriallia had taken the photo and sent it to her.

She double-clicked the image to make it bigger. In the photograph, she was biting the end of her mechanical pencil with a frown, trying to understand Athrun's explanation for a physics problem. It was one of the most difficult ones and had taken her nearly half an hour to finally get it. Athrun had patiently explained it several times, drawing diagrams to help her understand. He was such a kind person who couldn't abandon someone in trouble even if it meant less time for him to study.

Well, he could be a bit nagging and annoying, like pushing her to study more, but she liked studying with him. When she solved a problem with his help, he gave her a gentle and fond smile with a praise, which made her feel even better.

She closed the image and moved the cursor down, to a set of three photographs. In the first one, she was sitting in a muddy ditch; she had slipped and fallen into it. Athrun was holding out his hand to her from the road which was about her shoulder level; Dearka was about to push the blunet from behind with an evil grin. In the second photo, Athrun was falling into the ditch next to her, his hand holding Dearka's arm and taking the blond down with him; all the three in the photo looked surprised, their eyes and mouths wide open. As the blond had shoved the blunet, Athrun had instinctively grabbed Dearka's arm and thus, both had ended up in the mud. In the third photo, she, Athrun, and Dearka were all sitting in the ditch, she and Dearka laughing and splashing each other with mud; Athrun was sulking and trying to avoid flying mud.

This fall, especially during the preparation period for the sport festival and the day of the festival, Miriallia had worked hard to take a good picture, the best one she had ever taken. She had been going to enter a photograph in a contest one of whose judges were her favorite photographer. However, only two weeks before the deadline, her laptop had suddenly stopped turning on. Taking it to a store to get it fixed, she had been told that it might take longer than two weeks and that there was a possibility the data couldn't be recovered. All the possible candidate photos had been in the computer.

Miriallia had been upset, beating herself up for not having back-ups. Cagalli had tried to console her friend and encouraged the brunette to not give up and to start taking good pictures again in case she needed a new candidate. Miriallia had seemed to find the suggestion a good idea and distraction.

Wanting to help her friend more, Cagalli had asked her friends in different schools about their sport festivals; she had also checked events held in the next two weeks which might offer Miriallia a good photo-taking opportunity. She had mentioned her desire to help the brunette in a conversation with Athrun. He had suggested collecting photos Miriallia had taken before and sent to her friends; he had had a handful. She had relayed the idea to Miriallia and offered her laptop to check the photographs.

He had also helped her gather information on events in PLANT. Miriallia had picked one of those events: a harvest festival held in the Junius Block of PLANT. Athrun had told Cagalli he remembered going to similar festivals as a child since his mother had been working in the area.

They, along with Dearka, had accompanied Miriallia to the festival. Athrun had even taken time to search for the fastest way from Heliopolis, where she and Miriallia lived, to Junius One, where they met up with the boys, and sent her and Miriallia a simple guidance on PLANT transportation system since they weren't familiar with it. Not to mention he had checked the timetable of the bus from Junius One to Junius Five where the festival was held and created an itinerary which he texted to the other three.

He was a caring friend even though he wasn't the type to always express his emotions clearly and vigorously, and a responsible person who took on looking after people around him, especially his friends, without even being asked to. Though he sometimes got too stressed, carrying the world on his shoulders. He had been stressed a bit after they had gotten out of the ditch, worried that their muddy states would cause a trouble on their trip back, with either station workers or other passengers.

He liked to be prepared and make a plan before taking an action, unlike Cagalli who was impulsive. Although she often felt his way was too slow, she still admired his carefulness and patience. Another disadvantage of his way was, however, that if you were used to making detailed plans like him, you got a little panicky or frustrated when something didn't go as planned.

But she was used to improvising. So she had walked over to a vendor and asked whether there was a place where they could wash down the mud. There had been a place set for washing and watering animals for the shows; the staff had let them use the place. The day had been warm, but windy. After the cold shower, they, except for Miriallia, had been feeling cold.

Then, an old woman had invited them to come and taste the pumpkin soup she and her husband were selling. The couple had even refused to accept money for the cups of warm soup. So Cagalli and her friends had bought four towels the woman had knitted and been also selling at her stall. Cagalli, Athrun, and Dearka had dried themselves with the towels.

Feeling a lot better, Cagalli had patted Athrun's shoulder. "See? Told you not to worry. There is always a way. And people are generally kind."

He had looked at her like he was debating something in his head, then sighed. "I guess."

In the end, Miriallia had won the third place for juniors in the contest with those three photos. She had had a brief conversation with her hero during the award ceremony, which she told her friends about with excitement. Cagalli had been proud of and happy for her friend, and Athrun had shared the feeling, which made her happier still.

She resumed scanning the photos, then her eyes stopped at the photograph of her and Athrun smiling with their arms around each other's shoulder and making victory signs with the other hands; Yzak and Dearka were also to be seen behind them, the silver-head raising a fist and yelling at the blond.

During summer break, Lacus had invited her friends to her family's beach house, partly in thanks for Kira and Cagalli inviting their friends including Lacus to their grandfather's villa the previous summer. One day, they had engaged in a beach volleyball contest, splitting into pairs. Cagalli had paired up with Athrun. They had fought against Yzak and Dearka in the final match. Ignoring Dearka's complaints that he was so exhausted and dehydrated, the other three had been caught up in a heated game which lasted for a long time, and then, ended with Dearka missing the ball.

One of the things she liked about Athrun was that he didn't just let her win like Kira who wasn't as competitive as she was and was usually too lazy to be a good match to her. Her brother had paired up with Lacus in the beach volleyball contest; the pair had lost in their first game without trying much to win to begin with. The couple had spent the rest of the time watching their friends' games and cheering them on from under a beach umbrella, iced drinks in their hands.

Athrun was good at sports and almost as serious about winning a game as she was, probably partly because he took a karate lesson once a week. From what she had seen at competitions, he was an excellent fighter, which showed up in the sports games she had played with him. Even though she didn't like losing, a loss raised her fighting spirit and she appreciated good challenges Athrun constantly gave her.

And although he seemed to prefer spending time inside with computers and robots to playing sports outside, he didn't mind going to sporting events and was a good companion to her. He was the one who had volunteered to accompany her when she had asked her friends whether any of them was interested in indoor climbing this November, after being impressed by a documentary about rock climbing.

Her mind briefly wandered to the skating she and Athrun might or might not go during winter break, which she had completely forgotten until now. She soon shook her head, though. Now wasn't the time to think about it.

Next, she opened the photograph of her listening to a cow's heartbeat with a stethoscope during a summer program for high school students interested in veterinary medicine. A college student working at the event had taken the photo with her phone for her.

Early in this summer, Athrun had nudged her and Kira to join summer programs at colleges during summer break. They could learn more about what to expect in college in those programs, which helped them decide which college to go to, he had explained. He had even come with them to the programs at Central University of Orb even though the university didn't have a medical college, to which he was planning to apply. Well, from what she had heard, he had clearly enjoyed the program offered by the engineering college he had participated in along with Kira. But he had done research about not only colleges of engineering but also colleges of veterinary medicine, which she was thinking to go to, around their homes so that Kira and she could pick programs that interested them most.

He was thoughtful and reliable, often acting in a rather grown-up way. Without him, she probably wouldn't have participated in summer programs, thinking she could do that next summer. She had enjoyed getting a glimpse of the college life, especially actually examining animals, and she was thankful to him for it.

Though he could be a bit childish as well. She sometimes had to scold him and remind him how important having proper meals was, for instance.

About a year ago, the Sunday afternoon before the finals of the second semester, Athrun had come to her home. He and Kira had wanted to discuss the robot they were working on. Athrun had not come until noon because Kira had not wanted to wake up early. Her brother rarely woke up before noon on weekends and holidays.

A little before noon, she had fixed a quick lunch for herself since her mother had been at work, said "Good afternoon" to Kira who had woken up right when she was leaving, then gone to Fllay's house to study with Miriallia, Fllay, and some other friends from middle school. She had come home around five and found Kira and Athrun deep in discussion in front of Kira's computer. The boys had told her they had had only snacks instead of proper lunch, too engrossed in talking about some robot stuff to bother to cook or even order out. It had been Kira's turn to make dinner, but he had begged her to take his place, promising he would cook twice in a row the next times their mother wasn't at home. As a good big sister, she had accepted and cooked supper for three.

When she had called to the boys, however, they had not come downstairs, just kept saying they were coming. Irritated, she had marched up to Kira's room, smacked their heads, and sternly told them that if they didn't come to the table right away before the food got cold, she would eat all three meals. The boys had obediently followed her and they had started to eat.

The boys had wolfed down the rice and stir-fried vegetables with pork—though Athrun's manner was still good, better than Kira's. Athrun had seemed to have more appetite than usual and she had asked him whether he liked the menu.

Kira had said, "Anything would taste good after skipping a meal."

She had slapped his shoulder. "You sound like my cooking isn't good."

"I think you cook well," Athrun had said placatingly. "Though it doesn't hurt this is actually the first proper meal I had today."

Both she and Kira had looked at him with surprise. "You mean, you skipped breakfast too?" she had asked, incredulous.

"Not exactly. I had two bananas," Athrun had casually said.

She had given him a disapproving look. She had been aware that he didn't eat much in the morning, but had not imagined it was that bad. Who ate only bananas? Bananas were a snack, not a meal. It was unhealthy to eat so little; your body needed much more than that.

After telling him so, she had asked, "What did you eat last night, by the way?" She had known he ate fine at lunch since they always ate together at the school cafeteria on school days, but had not been sure about dinner; she had thought to ask just in case.

The look on his face had told her that he didn't want to answer the question, which meant she wouldn't like the answer. Narrowing her eyes, she had pressed until he spilled that he had had only some snacks—energy bars and jelly and more bananas—since he had been busy between studying for the finals and researching and planning for the robot. It had been the same with lunch that Sunday; he had only grabbed a couple of protein bars before heading to her house.

She had scolded him, telling him energy bars, like bananas, were more like a snack than a meal and he should develop a healthier eating habit. He had admitted that having proper meals was better, but tried to justify himself, insisting that replacing a meal with protein bars once in a while when you were busy wasn't so bad. They had kept arguing during supper, and although she had made him promise he would eat better from then on, he had still been pouting when he left.

Cagalli shook her head at the memory. Although his pout had been cute, it had not changed her opinion about his eating habit a tiny bit. Since then, she had started checking on his diet from time to time, especially after they had not met for a while like during vacations.

She wondered whether he was eating fine, and was relieved at the realization that he must be since he had been staying at his grandparents' house.

Relaxing, she moved on to another photograph: of her, Miriallia, Fllay, and several other teammates in their uniforms. They were all smiling widely. Athrun had taken the photo after the game in which SEED High booked a spot in the regional final for girls' high school volleyball. Athrun, along with Kira, often came to her games if the game was on weekend or during break; the final three heats of the regional championship had been held on a Sunday. About two hours after the photo had been taken, however, her team had lost the final match and missed the chance to go to the national championship.

Her gaze shifted toward a pair of robotic hamsters on her desk. Athrun had made her a yellow hamster robot for her last birthday, which she loved and thanked him for with great joy. Then, after the lost game, he had made a companion to the robot, a blue hamster, and given it to her because she had been so disappointed about the loss, shedding tears after the game, and down for a while.

With affection, she caressed the dark blue head of the robot. As a response, the hamster squeaked and started to run in a circle; the yellow one followed suit. She moved her laptop a little to make a bigger space for them.

Although he wasn't exactly observant when it came to emotions, Athrun tried to cheer up or console others when he noticed they weren't feeling good. He wasn't good with words, either, and at first, she had not understood why he was giving her another robot on no special occasion. But after understanding it, his concern had touched her and gotten her completely out of the low mood.

She watched her two hamsters chasing each other for a moment before looking back at the computer. After a few minutes, the robots would automatically return to their original locations if she didn't do anything to them.

The next image her eyes landed on was of a big rainbow. She had taken it when she and Athrun had visited his mother's grave.

In the end of May, they had been talking about the Father's Day shopping Lacus had taken her to and he had mentioned that Father's Day and Mother's Day reminded him of when his mother, who had died when he was fourteen, had still been alive.

His words had stirred her memory. He had looked somewhat distant around Mother's Day though he had said he was all right when she had asked him. She had probably been too busy preparing for Mother's Day and her and her brother's birthday and the school festival which were all jammed in the middle of May, in addition to usual school stuff and volleyball stuff, to realize he was putting on a front; and she had assumed he was just tired from the busy schedule.

Responding to her inquiry, he had said he had done nothing on Mother's Day, so she had insisted he should bring flowers to his mother's grave. He had not been eager, but she had pushed him, volunteering to accompany him.

Their trip had been on the next Sunday because the cemetery was in a rural area, nearly two hours away by bus. At a flower shop near the cemetery, they had bought a bouquet of colorful carnations, for him to show love for his mother, and a bouquet of irises, for her to show respect for her friend's mother. She had been drawn to irises mostly because he had mentioned his mother had had the same hair and eyes as he; the gorgeous and cool blue-purple flower with sharp green leaves had appeared to suit him, and thus his mother. And she had thought a flower which had the power to protect people from evil should be a good one to bring to a grave. The shop clerk had also told them that the name of irises came from a goddess who traveled between worlds and delivered messages, and Cagalli had liked it. She had wanted to tell Athrun's mother he wasn't alone, with friends who cared about him, and so she didn't have to worry about him too much.

In front of the grave, she had silently delivered the message, promised that she would watch out for him, then made a short prayer before opening her eyes to look at Athrun. Gazing at the tombstone, he had looked like a little boy with his pain and sadness evident in his face, and her heart had ached for him. She had wanted to hug him and comfort him. At the same time, she had not wanted to intrude on his time with his mother. So she had held back, just watching him closely in case he showed any sign that he needed a hug and sending silent support to him.

After a while, he had turned to her and put on a small smile. "Thanks for coming with me. Let's go now."

She had silently nodded and they had started for the entrance to the cemetery. A little after they left the cemetery, the rain had suddenly started. They had taken shelter under a tree; he had lent her his jacket for the cover since raindrops were still dripping on them through the branches and leaves and she wore less clothing.

Pushing his damp hair out of his eyes, he had sighed. "I should've brought an umbrella. I didn't because the weathercast said it wouldn't rain today, but I should've known better."

She had shrugged, peering up at the sky. "It's probably just a squall. I don't think it will last long." She had been glad she didn't see lightning; she didn't like thunders.

"I hope not."

"Besides, it's kind of fun. It almost feels like the beginning of an adventure, don't you think?" She had looked around the deserted road and field. They had been the only people in the scene as far as she could see. "I watched an animation when I was a kid in which the main character meets some kind of mysterious creature in a situation like this."

"It's not a horror story, is it?" he had said a little jokingly.

She had pulled his jacket on her head down until it almost covered her whole face and grabbed the sleeves to wave them in his direction. "You mean like a story in which a boy is eaten by a monsterrrr?" she had said in the scariest voice she could manage, though it probably wasn't really scary since Athrun just chuckled.

She had peeked from under the jacket and felt relieved that his smile seemed more genuine now. "I didn't like rain much when I was a kid," she had said, pushing his black jacket up out of her face. "We couldn't play outside on rainy days. Well, I didn't mind playing in the rain, but most of my friends did and my mom, and other moms, didn't want us to go out in the rain."

"I bet you were the kind of child who jumped into every puddle she could find," he had chimed in.

She had raised an eyebrow at him. "What else would you do with puddles?" she had asked, half-serious. She still kicked some of the puddles she encountered.

He had let out another chuckle. "No wonder your mother didn't like your going out in the rain. You must've been always soaked with muddy water."

"I liked being soaked. My rain boots made funny sounds when water got inside them." She had lightly stamped her foot several times, though she was wearing sneakers instead of rainy boots and they weren't exactly soaked. "And you don't have many opportunities to get soaked from head to toe with your clothes still on."

He had had a small, gentle smile as he listened to her, but then, his face had turned hesitant as if he wanted to say something, yet wasn't sure about it.

She had tilted her head. "Athrun?"

He had turned his gaze away before saying quietly, "My mother liked rainy days. She was an agriculturalist, specialized in cabbage. She always said, her cabbages—and other plants—love rains and so she loves rain as well." A tiny smile had curved up his lips. "On some rainy days, she took me outside in raincoats to take care of our garden, or to just walk around our neighborhood. Going out in the rain is troublesome and I preferred to stay inside on rainy days. But still…it wasn't bad when with her."

"Yeah, even things you normally don't like can be fun when you do it with someone you love," she had softly agreed. "Your mom sounds like a fun person." She had paused. "If we'd brought raincoats, we could walk around in the rain like you and your mom did. Maybe we should do it some other day. I'm sure we'll enjoy it."

He had looked at her, his face softening. "I think you would've liked her, and she you."

"I'm sure I would've. I'm already liking her just hearing about her," she had told him, then gently prodded, "What else did she like?"

"Well, she liked conducting experiments, too. Mostly in the garden, but also with food. Like making an exotic dish she read about in a book or online, and some of them were...well, not exactly pleasant to the taste. Either because she had made a mistake or because the dish was too exotic for my taste."

He had gone on to tell her more stories about his mother, looking again like a child. But this time, she had felt relief as well as feeling sad for him. He usually hid his negative emotions inside to suffer by himself, which made her worried about him. She wanted him to allow her to share his pain, his emotions. She wanted to be someone he could trust with his heart. And she had been glad that he was talking about his mother to her, that he didn't have to miss his mother alone.

Listening to him, she had placed her head on his shoulder and circled her arm around his waist. It had just felt like a natural thing to do. He had put his arm over her shoulder to pull her closer. They had stayed that way until the rain stopped. When they had left the shelter of the tree, there had been a clear, beautiful rainbow across the sky. They had stood there for a long minute, taking in the scene; the sky had been brighter after the rain, the air purer.

They had not talked much on their way home, in contrast to when hiding under the tree. It had not been awkward, though. It had been more like words weren't necessary for them, like just looks and smiles were enough. She had felt so close to him without either of them saying anything, felt so connected with him without even touching each other.

At the thought of touching him, her mind recalled their closeness under the tree. Her cheeks grew warm. She could clearly remember his firm body pressed against hers, albeit side by side. She had not thought much about it before. After all, she often engaged in physical contacts with her family and friends including Athrun. Looking back, though, what they had shared then didn't seem to be the same as the others. It felt more...intimate.

She gave her head a few shakes, then patted her hot cheeks several times before reaching out for the touchpad of her computer.

The cursor wandered through the photos for a while, then stopped on one in which Athrun and Kira were looking up at the sky, pink petals of cherry blossom dancing around them. She could see the tip of a green wing at the upper edge of the picture; Torii, Kira's robotic bird Athrun had made for him when they were children, had been flying around above their heads.

During spring break, the boys had worked on improving the program of the bird robot for a robotics competition in April. Two days before school began, they had gone to a park near their school to make Torii fly around both across a wide place and through trees. Out of curiosity, she had joined them after her volleyball practice, but soon lost interest since the boys kept doing the same thing again and again. While the boys were playing with the robot—they had insisted it was a serious experiment, not a play, but there wasn't much difference in her opinion—she had spent time looking around at the trees and flowers, texting, and playing with dogs that passed by with their masters and cats that were on their own.

She had been quite bored, so much so that she had actually left the boys for a while to jog around the park once. She had even considered going home since there wasn't much to hold her interest for long and the boys were absorbed with Torii, seeming to have forgotten her presence. She had learned, though, that it was enjoyable to watch Athrun's face shining with pleasure and love for robots, which was a bit odd for she had not felt that way when watching her brother. Maybe because, unlike Kira, Athrun didn't often show such excitement and joy, she had reasoned. She had found herself smiling with her eyes on Athrun many times, and ended up staying until the boys were done.

Athrun and Kira's effort had paid off; the robotic bird had won the first place in the competition. Athrun had been so pleased and she had been happy for him. Well, she had been happy for both of the boys, but Athrun's proud smile which didn't leave his face since the announcement until they parted that day had been more memorable than Kira's huge grin.

Her lips, which had been lifted by a small smile, twisted a little as her gaze came across a photo of a huge sundae. A reminder of her and Athrun's big fight.

In the end of February, she, Athrun, and Kira had gone to watch a movie, _GUNDAM WARS: Episode II_. They had been climbing down the steps of a pedestrian overpass when an accident happened. Avoiding a man climbing up the stairs, she had stepped aside while continuing to go down; she had not paid much attention to her steps, enthusiastically talking to Kira about the movie they were going to watch. Unfortunately for her, the stairs had been still wet from the rain the previous night, and she must have stepped on a puddle.

Next moment, her body had been falling ahead, toward the ground. She had frantically waved her arms and feet, trying to break the fall somehow. Kira and Athrun had called her name, then someone had grabbed her and they had both slid down the stairs to hit the ground hard.

Groaning in pain, she had opened her eyes to find Athrun lying under her, with his eyes closed and a part of his face covered with blood. Cold fear had gripped her heart and she had called his name over and over, tears coursing down her cheeks. To her great relief, he had regained consciousness after a long minute. A passenger had told them she had called for an ambulance and they, including Kira, had decided that Athrun shouldn't move until it got there. He had seemed to have hurt his leg, in addition to a cut on the head. Being under her, he had apparently taken most of the impact.

Sitting at his side, she had sniffled. "It was reckless of you to grab me and fall down with me," she had reprimanded him, then earnestly said, "but thank you for trying to save me."

"I'm fine, so don't cry," he had replied.

The ambulance had soon arrived and taken them to a hospital where doctors examined her and Athrun. Aside from some cuts and bruises, she had been fine. But it had turned out that Athrun had cracked his leg and the cut on his head had to be stitched up.

Waiting for the treatment, Athrun had told her and Kira, "It's going to take a while, and the doctor said I should stay at the hospital for the night just in case. So you should probably go and watch the movie without me."

She had been appalled. "Don't be stupid. We'd never leave you alone."

"But you've been so excited to watch this movie," he had pointed out.

It had been true. Rondo Mina, her favorite action star, was starring the series along with her twin brother; Cagalli had gone to watch the first movie because of it and fallen in love with the whole movie. She had been eagerly waiting for this second movie to come out for months.

Still, there had been no competition in her mind.

"We are staying," she had firmly said. "You are much more important than a movie, even if it's _GUNDAM WARS_."

He had still looked like he wanted to argue. But a nurse had come then, and he had closed his mouth with a dissatisfied expression.

After Athrun had been treated properly, they had been chatting in a room he had been assigned to, she and Kira meaning to keep him company during visiting hours; his family had not arrived yet. Their subject at the moment had been Athrun's karate match a couple weeks later, which he had to abstain from since his leg wouldn't heal by then.

Something had occurred to her and she had asked, "Speaking of karate, don't you practice how to reduce the damage when you fall or something like that in your lesson?"

"Sometimes," Athrun had answered.

"It didn't work today since you fell from a high place or you just couldn't do it because you weren't prepared?" she had asked curiously.

"Well, it's not easy to do it when you are holding someone in your arms," he had said wryly. "At least, I succeeded in protecting you from serious injuries."

She had blinked, then frowned. "Wait. You mean you placed your body under mine on purpose?"

He had shrugged, silently affirming her assumption.

Her frown had deepened. Until then, she had assumed it was an unfortunate accident that Athrun had gotten some serious injuries and she had gotten almost none. But apparently, he had intentionally made it that way.

"You shouldn't have done that," she had told him. "You should've let me take at least half of the impact. Then probably your leg would've been fine. We both could've gotten out of the accident with no serious injuries."

He had not looked happy at her suggestion. "We don't know that. You could've had a serious injury while I was fine."

"Yeah. But I would've had as much chance as you. It would've been fair."

He had looked at her as if she had said something odd, then shaken his head a little. "It's not about fairness. It's more about...properness. I'm a guy and you are a girl. I just did what I should do."

She had narrowed her eyes at him. "My being a girl has nothing to do with this."

"Well, it does. I can't let a girl get injured."

Her glare had intensified, but then, Kira had intervened. "What he wants to say is, Cagalli, he cares about you and wanted to protect you. Right, Athrun?" Kira had looked at Athrun who nodded a little hesitantly.

She had pursed her lips, still a little upset. "But I don't want you to get injured. I care about you, too." She had looked at the cast on Athrun's leg, then the bandage on his head.

His face had softened. "I know. But you shouldn't concern yourself. This"—he had motioned to his injuries—"is really nothing."

She had stared at him for a moment before asking, "Why do you keep saying things like that?"

He had had a puzzled face. "Things like what?"

"Like...like you don't matter." And it wasn't the first time he had said things like that, she had realized.

He had not appeared to understand her. "I didn't say anything like that."

"But you did," she had insisted, frustration growing in her. "Of course I'm concerned with your injuries. How can you think I could do otherwise?"

"I just meant..." He had seemed to be struggling for words. "…this is just the result of my decision and one I prefer. So you don't have to feel bad about my injuries. I'm glad I was the one who got injured, not you."

"Stop saying that!" she had yelled, jumping to her feet. "Never— _never_ —say you're glad you got injured, stupid!"

The image of his pale face and red blood had kept flashing in her mind. Her throat had closed tight and tears had sprung to her eyes; a half of her body had been hot with anger and the other half icy with fear.

He had looked at her with wide eyes, seemingly at a loss.

Sighing, Kira had stood up and pulled her arm. "We better go. You two clearly need some space."

As she and her brother left the room, she had said nothing. She had been afraid she might start crying harder if she opened her mouth. She had been so scared that he might get more serious injuries, or even die, if he remained so careless about his own well-being, and he had not even understood what the problem was.

She had still been struggling with fear, anger, and frustration when she and Kira had visited Athrun's house with their mother the next day; her mother, hearing about what had happened, had wanted to thank Athrun in person. Cagalli and Athrun had not talked much. He had seemed to be sulking a bit, thinking her reaction unreasonable; she had disagreed. They had not had an opportunity for a serious talk that day anyway. Athrun's grandmother, who was staying at his home for a while, had wanted him to rest and the Hibikis had agreed with her that he would need it. So they had left soon.

The fight had continued for a few days. She had had no intention of letting the matter pass; her grandfather had advised her to explain her sentiments to Athrun more calmly without yelling. Therefore, she had decided to keep her distance from him until she could do it. She had just pushed her brother to spend as much time with Athrun and help him around as he could, then interrogated Kira about how Athrun was, especially concerning his injuries. Kira had been rather tired, complaining both Cagalli and Athrun were so stubborn, which she ignored.

Four days after the accident, Athrun had come to her and apologized for making her worried. His change of attitude seemed to have been influenced by the fact that his father, along with his grandparents, had shown concern for his injuries.

"I know you care about others and want to protect them. I understand that," she had said slowly. "But I still don't want you to get hurt. Especially not for me. If something like that happens again, don't try to take the damage for me, okay?"

He had made a frown. "I can't promise that." She had knitted her own eyebrows and he had added hurriedly, "But I'd also try to avoid getting injured myself. How's that?"

She had debated in her head, then decided it was probably the best she could get for now. She had not been completely happy about it, but had not wanted to keep fighting with him. So she had nodded. "Okay. But you'd have to try as hard as you could."

With a relieved smile, he had nodded back. "I would."

On Saturday that week, she had taken Athrun to a cafe near their school, which was a bit fancier than the places they usually went to, to celebrate their reconciliation; they had shared a huge fruit sundae she had had her eye on. She had meant to treat him so that she could pay some of her debt to him, but he had insisted he would pay for he had worried and upset her. They had ended up splitting the bill.

As they had left the cafe, she had given him a protection stone—Haumea's amulet her grandfather had given her when she was little for she had been quite an adventurous child—so that it would keep him safe when he forgot to protect himself. But she had not forgotten to warn him to keep his promise, that he should try to help himself first before relying on the divine protection.

Recalling the taste of the fruit sundae, which had been as delicious as it was expensive, she licked her lips. She briefly considered going downstairs for some snack, but decided against it. She should focus.

The next photograph that caught her eyes was one of Athrun shyly smiling with a home-made peach tart in front of him, surrounded by his friends. Not because of the tart. Well, maybe partly, but it wasn't the whole reason. This was one of the important memories of her and Athrun. The first birthday of Athrun's that she had celebrated.

Several weeks before the day, she had asked him, "Can you spare time for us on your birthday? Or are you going to spend all day with your dad?" wondering whether they should hold his birthday party on another day.

"Actually, I won't spend time with him at all. He will be out of town due to work," he had replied before putting a piece of fried chicken into his mouth. They had been talking while eating at the school cafeteria.

She had knitted her eyebrows. "Can't he put off the trip? It's your birthday."

He had casually shrugged, swallowing the food inside his mouth. "He wouldn't celebrate my birthday anyway even if he were at home."

The crease between her eyebrows had deepened. "But that's...it makes you feel lonely, doesn't it?"

He had given another shrug. "It's not something new. My father has always been a busy man." His face and voice had been calm as if he was so used to his father's disinterest that he didn't feel anything about it.

However, she had not missed a flicker of sadness in his eyes and had felt her heart tighten. It had been partly because his words reminded her of her own father who was absorbed with work and didn't come home often. It might be part of why Athrun, who was a private person, had confided in her.

Reaching out to squeeze his hand, she had opened her mouth to say they would have a big birthday party for him, so big that he could forget about his father not celebrating his birthday, if only for a little while. An idea had occurred to her before the words came out, though, and so she had simply said, "We have a party for you on your birthday then. Look forward to it, okay?"

He had smiled a small, but genuine smile. "Okay." They had moved on to another topic.

As soon as she had come home that evening, she had grabbed her brother and proposed the idea of a surprise birthday party for Athrun. Well, it had not been a complete surprise since Athrun knew they were going to have a party, but she had wanted it to be much bigger and more fun than he expected.

She had been able to understand his feelings, possibly better than Kira did even. Not only was her father rarely at home, but he gave most of his attention to Kira when he was. It felt to her that the only times her father had ever talked to her for more than five minutes were when he scolded her. Otherwise, he had not shown much interest in what she did except for her grades. Grandpa Uzumi had always been more like a father to her than her real father; she used to call her grandfather when she had fights or got scolded or both. Even Uncle Halma seemed to show more affection and interest in her than her father did.

But at least she had a mother and a brother who loved her very much with her while Athrun had lost his mother and didn't have any family nearby with whom he could spend his birthday. She wasn't sure whether she could bear it if she were him. She had wanted him to spend happy hours before he had to return to his house where no one would be waiting for him.

So she had planned a sleepover at Lacus's house which was the largest among their friends'. Conveniently, Athrun's birthday had been Sunday. Lacus had invited him to a late afternoon tea party at her house on Saturday after his karate practice. She liked to have tea parties with her friends when she could squeeze one into her busy schedule as an idol; Athrun had bought it, believing only he, Lacus, Kira, and Cagalli would be present.

Then Cagalli had tried to bake a cake with Lacus and Miriallia. Lacus had known that Athrun's mother had always baked a peach tart which was his favorite on his birthdays. With the help of Lacus's housekeeper, they had managed to produce a peach tart that looked good enough.

As she recalled his reaction when he had realized the tea party was actually his birthday party, a wide smile spread over her face. He had been caught completely off guard and looked like he didn't know what to do or say, looking around his friends who were wishing him a happy birthday. And it had been such a good day, playing games and watching movies and chatting with friends until late at night. Yzak had even kept his promise to try not to pick a fight with Athrun. She had gone to sleep that night, in Lacus's room, feeling satisfied and glad.

And before breakfast the next morning, Athrun had thanked her for the party, explaining Kira had told him she was the one who had planned it. Then, he had gently touched her face with a tender smile on his lips.

It was actually then that she had realized how gorgeous he was. Of course, she had always known he was good-looking. It was hard not to notice it. But she had paid little attention to it. To her, he was a good person and a good friend and that had been it. Besides, in her opinion, someone's athletic skill was far more important than their appearance. Unlike playing sports with them, watching their face wasn't fun. It could bore her out of her mind in probably less than three minutes.

On that morning, however, she had somehow found her eyes glued to his face. They had been in the sunroom in Lacus's garden; with morning sunlight shining on him, he had looked utterly beautiful. His eyes had been like emerald green oceans alluring her into their depth, whispering a mesmerizing melody she didn't quite understand, and they had been looking at her, only her.

She had been standing still, speechless. He had not said anything after thanking her, just gazing at her with those dazzling eyes and smile. She didn't know how long they would have stayed that way if Yzak had not told Athrun to move out of his way and broken the spell. She then had hurriedly put some distance between herself and Athrun, feeling somehow nervous, her heart beating faster than usual. It had taken her a whole day before she became able to look him in the eye again.

Since then, Athrun had become her _good-looking_ friend.

Remembering Kira's words earlier in the evening, she wondered: Had Athrun fallen in love with her on that day?

Her eyes drifted toward a photo from a few weeks before Athrun's birthday party: one from the sport festival. In the picture, she was holding a doner kebab with a pout and Athrun was trying to pacify her, a kebab in his hand as well. Someone in the photography club had taken the picture, along with the one in which she was arguing with a one-eyed man at the kebab stall while Athrun stood on the sidelines, and Miriallia had sent copies to Cagalli and Athrun.

Mr. Waldfeld, their chemistry teacher, had somehow gained a permission from the principal to open a food stand at the festival. Cagalli had been excited, finding out it served kebabs. However, as a response to her request for chili sauce, the teacher had said that they had only yogurt sauce. As she stared at him in disbelief, he had continued that they didn't need chili sauce because putting it on kebabs was such a show of disrespect toward kebabs. Angry, she had stood up for her beloved sauce. They had argued for a while, until Waldfeld's girlfriend, who was working at the stand along with him, pulled out a bottle of chili sauce and handed it to her.

Even though she had obtained what she wanted, Cagalli had still been annoyed, realizing the man had been just playing with her all along. Athrun had tried to soothe her and then, direct her attention to something else, which eventually worked. As she cheered on her team members while enjoying the kebab with a _wonderful, divine sauce_ , she had forgotten the anger.

In the photograph, Athrun's smile was gentle and affectionate, a little amused. It was a smile she was familiar with. She examined it closely and thought that it was probably a bit less warm than his recent smiles. It was natural; they had become closer, though they had already been fairly close back then. Other than that, she couldn't find much difference.

Then again, was it so important when he had started to have romantic feelings for her?

Even if it wasn't friendship she had believed, he still liked her and cared about her. He always had since they had met. It wasn't like those affection and care he had shown her had been lies. As Kira had said, she and Athrun were her and Athrun no matter what kind of relationship they had. And Athrun was Athrun no matter what kind of feelings he had for her. She had never lost her friend without knowing it. The Athrun who had asked her out was the same person as the Athrun she had become friends with on their first day of high school.

She exhaled slowly, feeling the heaviness that had been stuck in her chest disappear.

With a satisfied face, she scrolled up and down, enjoying recalling the other memories. Then she stopped to open a photo of Athrun smiling and holding a plate of cake out toward her sitting at a table; Kira was a couple meters behind him, pouring tea at another table. At the school festival this spring, Athrun and Kira's class had turned their homeroom into a cafe and both the boys had worked as waiters.

Athrun looked so dashing in the picture, with a white shirt, a black cross collar bow tie, and a dark vest all of which enhanced his delicate features, that she felt her heart flutter every time she looked at it. She had reasoned that she was only reacting to his appearance, that it was a natural response to such a good-looking boy. Many girls found him attractive after all. But now, she wondered whether there was something more to her reaction. Come to think of it, she had not felt that way when looking at a picture of a model or an actor who could be more gorgeous than Athrun.

 _Though they can't be nicer._ What was most charming about Athrun wasn't his face or body. It was his eyes, warm and gentle, showing what kind of person he was.

As she gazed at his tender smile, her cheeks warmed up and she somehow couldn't look at it anymore. Trying to distract herself, she turned her eyes to the hamster robots that had returned to their places and were still now. The blue hamster, a proof of his caring nature, triggered another memory.

In the middle of January this year, she had been dejected due to Tolle's death. In attempting to console her, Athrun had hugged her, which surprised her and made her heart pound. As much as it had been comforting, the hug had felt weird, but not in a bad way. She had not thought much about it at that time, but now that she thought about it, she had felt similarly then to when she had imagined kissing him: warm and tingly and restless.

Her face felt even warmer at the recollection. She felt like she wanted to dash out of the house and run around the neighborhood while screaming at the top of her lungs. Instead of actually doing it, she stood up and threw herself on her bed to roll over from side to side several times, thrashing her legs in the air and hitting and squeezing her pillow.

After a while, she calmed down a bit and lay still on the bed, her memories with Athrun swirling in her head.

He was so important to her. She cherished their friendship—their relationship. What they had now. Everything they had shared. And the thought that it had to come to an end had been distressing, almost unbearable. She had not wanted to think about such a thing.

But if becoming his girlfriend didn't mean she had to give up her current relationship with him. If she could keep what she had with him now and have more, have something else as well. Then what would she do? What would she say to him?

She closed her eyes, the day he had asked her out coming back to her mind. His face. His eyes. His voice. The way he had leaned toward her. The way he had averted his face. The way he had paused between words.

 _"Will you be my girlfriend?"_

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes, I'd love to...Athrun." His name, the name she had voiced thousands of times, was so sweet on her tongue and in her ears. She couldn't believe she had never realized how beautiful the name was. She couldn't resist the urge to voice it again.

"Athrun."

Her heart thudded, as if it was calling out to him as well. Probably it was. Her whole body was yearning for him. Her eyes missed the sight of him. Her nose missed the scent of him. Her hands missed the feel of him. She couldn't wait to see him, look at those beautiful eyes of his and tell him her feelings.

She was in the middle of abusing her pillow again when her ears caught a familiar sound. She sat up, releasing her hold on the pillow which looked more worn-looking than it had five minutes ago, and strained her ears. The quiet ringing of a bell was heard again.

Hurriedly, she snatched a jacket, went downstairs, and pulled a box of cat food out of a cabinet. Slipping out of the back door into a pair of garden clogs on the short steps in front of the door, she turned on a garden lamp beside the steps. At the bottom of the steps were two bowls; she crouched down to pour cat food into one of them. Then, she grabbed the other bowl, which contained little water, and retreated into the house to put the box of cat food back and fill the bowl with fresh water. There was a tap in the garden, but the water would be too cold; at the kitchen sink, she could warm up the water. When she came outside again, a white cat was sniffing the cat food. As she placed the bowl of water on the ground, the cat greeted her, licking the hand she held out.

With an affectionate smile, Cagalli scratched the cat under the chin and the cat purred. A little clink came from her left. She turned her head to find another cat on the edge of the bright pool the lamp created: black and bigger with a small bell on the collar.

"Hey, you brought a friend."

She clicked her tongue, trying to lure the black cat that slowly came nearer but not within her reach.

"Your friend's a bit shy," she said to the white cat, that was a regular at her "cat cafe," and gently nudged the cat in the black cat's direction. "Probably you should show your friend the food is safe and good." She pushed the bowls as well and backed up to sit on the steps so that the black cat felt more comfortable coming to eat. Her attempt was successful; after some more hesitation, the black cat slowly neared to have a taste.

She fondly watched the two cats have their meal. The white cat, Yuki, was a neighbor cat which lived three houses down the street and often stopped by at her house for a snack.

Being an animal lover, she had always wanted a pet. But her father was against the idea and had listened to neither her begging nor tantrums, which she had always felt was unfair since he spent such little time at home. Partly to satisfy her desire for a pet and partly as a rebellious act, she had started to feed and take care of neighbor pets. She had even set a bell at the back garden which cats could use when they wanted to be fed but the bowl was empty.

The back door opened a little and a brown head poked out.

"Don't get a cold, Cagalli."

She leaned back. Her mother bent down, her hand stopping Cagalli's head from bumping into the door. "I'm coming in in a second."

Via nodded. "Good night, honey."

"Good night, Mom."

Her mother gave a pat to her head and the door quietly closed. Cagalli turned forward, but instead of returning to watching the cats, she shifted her eyes upward to gaze at the sky. There were no clouds, only the waning moon and stars which shone more brightly in the crisp winter air.

The first time they had met, Athrun had said she could be a poster girl for summer. It was one of the nicest things people had said about her. And if she was a girl of summer, Athrun was a boy of winter. She had always thought winter night suited him, not just because of his midnight blue hair. Calm, beautiful, a bit harsh, and mysterious. Winter nights seemed so quiet at first glance, as if every life was taking a break. But if you paid close attention, you could find so much behind the veil of darkness.

After some more gazing, she stood up to step toward the cats. Instantly, the black cat shot away, warily keeping a certain distance from her. She patted the white cat that meowed, then waved at the black cat.

"Enjoy your meal, guys. Good night."

Before getting into the house, she looked in the general direction of Athrun's house, and whispered, "I miss you," though she knew he wasn't at home. He was coming back tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow, she was going to meet him and tell him how she felt.

Her pulse was rather quick on her way back to her room. Entering the room, she looked at the shopping bag on the floor. She was going to wear the boots she had bought today, after all. Friday would be a very special occasion. She was going on her first date ever.

Sitting on her chair, she slightly tilted her head. It would be a date, right? Although Athrun had not called it one, they would become boyfriend and girlfriend and do something together, even if it was just chatting. So it should count as a date.

Nodding, she turned to her computer. She was still somewhat restless, and watching some sports programs sounded good. A mixed martial art match, perhaps.

* * *

 **A/N** : This fic is set in a Japan-like country. So school year begins in April and ends in March. In many schools, including Cagalli and Athrun's high school, it consists of three semesters: the first from April to July, the second from September to December, the third from January to March, with summer break, winter break, and spring break between them. Elementary school is six years, middle school is three years, and high school is three years.

Thank you for reading and the reviews. See you next week!

···

 **To PegasusInCage:**

Thank you for another review! This fic is entirely from Cagalli's viewpoint, but I'm writing a sequel and you will see their past from Athrun's viewpoint in the fic. Although I'm not sure if I can include Athrun dropping hints, his birthday which Cagalli recalled in this chapter will certainly be there. However, the sequel is much longer than this fic and you have to wait for months until you get to read that part (sorry!). I hope you'll stick around.

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 ***posted 12/21/18***

 ***edited 06/30/19***


	4. The Day of Promise

English is not my first language. Please bear with grammatical errors.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.**

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 **Boy of Winter**

Chapter 4: The Day of Promise

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With contented sounds, Cagalli turned over, enjoying the warmth of her bed which was in contrast to the cold air touching her face. Even though her eyelids were closed, she could feel her room was filled with soft sunlight coming through between curtains, her ears catching the noise from outside. Lazily, she stretched an arm toward her alarm clock to peek at it through a half-open eyelid. She was drowsy and it took her a while to register the numbers on the clock.

Her eyelids flew open. "What—!"

She sat straight up to stare at the clock in her hands. She rubbed her eyes, but the numbers didn't change. It was fifteen minutes past eleven. Forty-five minutes before the time she was supposed to meet Athrun. It took about thirty minutes by bus to get there from her house and she had planned to catch 11:20 bus.

Simply put, she had to get to the bus stop in five minutes.

With a panicked cry, she jumped out of her bed, throwing the alarm clock on the covers. She tore her pajamas off and grabbed a shirt and jeans at the top of a pile of clothes on the floor without really looking at them, even though Miriallia and Fllay had instructed her to wear the prettiest clothes she owned when she told them her answer yesterday. They had even come to her home after practice, bringing some of their clothes, and left them for her to choose among.

But right now, whether her clothes were pretty enough was the least of her concern. They were clean, at least; she had brought the pile of freshly laundered clothes from downstairs a few days ago as her mother told her to, but then, neglected to put them in her cabinet.

The socks she put on also didn't appear to be matching, but she couldn't care less about it either. She snatched her khaki crossbody bag from the floor, which she usually used when going out, and dashed out of her room.

After a brief stop at a restroom to splash water on her face, she reached the entrance, her hands combing through her hair. She shoved her feet into her sneakers while pulling her coat off the coat rack next to the shoe cabinet. Judging from the sound of it, the coat rack fell down, but she didn't look back as she opened the door and went out, much less go back.

Impatiently, she pulled her key out of her bag and locked the door, then started to run toward the bus stop, her coat and bag in her arms.

Moving her feet as fast as she could, she cursed at herself. She really, really should have set her alarm clock. But she had not thought she would need it; she usually got up before nine without an alarm. Last night, however, she had stayed up late, video chatting with Miriallia and Fllay who were both thrilled about her date with Athrun. Then, she had had a difficulty falling asleep, both excited and nervous. She had kept tossing and turning for a long time, wondering how her first date would go, before finally drifting into sleep.

And there had been no one at her house to wake her up. Her mother was at work and Kira had said yesterday that he would go out with his classmates in the morning.

She turned a corner and the bus stop, across and down the street, came into her sight. A bus was parked at the stop, slowly starting to leave. The number at the top of its backside told her it was the bus she was supposed to take.

"NO! WAIT!" she yelled, stepping on the road only to jump back at the sound of a car horn.

A car drove past, nearly hitting her. She stepped back and impatiently waited as a dozen of cars followed, blocking her way; in her attempt to get closer to the bus even a little, she walked sideways like a crab. When the road became clear, the bus was already turning a corner further down the street, too far for her to catch up with it.

She still crossed the street to check the time for the next bus, which turned out to be forty minutes later. Biting her lip, she thought a little, then turned on her heel to cross back the street. She ran back the way she had come, passing by her house, toward another bus stop in the next block.

On Sundays, the bus she usually took to school, the one she had just missed, didn't run. So when she went to the area on Sundays, she took another bus at a different bus stop, which she was heading for now. If her memory served her correctly, the bus came around this time.

Reaching the bus stop and scanning the timetable, she pumped her fist in the air. "Yes!"

There was a 11:26 bus. Wanting to make sure it was still before the time, she opened her bag to search for her phone. But then, a gust of cold wind blew through her. Shivering, she opted to put on her coat first. Shuffling her coat and bag, she made a face at the realization that she had forgotten her scarf. She also had not brought her umbrella and, glancing up at the cloudy sky, hoped it wouldn't rain. As she finished buttoning up her coat, the bus she was waiting for showed up.

With a breath of relief, she took out the transportation card. Getting on the bus, she silently praised herself for having transferred her wallet and the card from her gym bag to this bag last night instead of postponing it until this morning like she did with deciding what to wear—which was mostly because the skirt Fllay had lent her and both her friends had insisted she wear was pretty for sure, but too short for her taste. What Athrun always said had a point: It was better to get prepared ahead of time in case the unexpected occurred.

Smiling, she took a seat. As the bus resumed moving, she looked at the clock at the front. This bus didn't go all the way to the area her high school was and she had to change buses. It would take her a longer time to reach her destination, forty minutes at best. It might take her longer if the next bus didn't come right away; she didn't remember the timetable. Either way, she couldn't get to the cafe before noon.

Deciding she should text Athrun and let him know, she shoved a hand into her bag and groped for her phone which seemed to be hiding somewhere. She opened the bag wide, but still couldn't find the phone. Tracing her memory, she realized that in her hurry, she had forgotten to collect it from the charger on her desk.

Her brow furrowed. She wasn't exactly punctual and Athrun was familiar with it. Usually, he would simply wait for a while before even texting her to ask where she was when she didn't show up on time. Today was different from their usual going out, however. He might act differently. He might jump to the conclusion that she had decided to reject him. Although he wasn't the type to make rash decisions, he was rather a pessimist.

After a minute, she let out a sigh and sank into her seat. No matter how much she worried, there was nothing she could do. Then, she should focus on getting there as soon as she could instead of wasting her energy in fretting.

She patted pockets of her bag to find her watch—her grandfather's gift for starting high school and a twin to Kira's—in one and strapped it on. Now, she could know the time at least.

Absently watching buildings and cars and people passing by, she caressed her stomach which started begging her for food since she had not eaten before leaving home. To her joy, there was a convenience store right in front of the bus stop where she got off the bus. She grabbed a bottle of lemonade and two buns—a pork bun and a seafood bun since they didn't have curry buns—so that she could satisfy her poor belly on her way to the next bus stop which was a few streets away.

Hot buns were a wonderful meal to have while walking in the cold weather, warming her hands as well as her mouth and stomach. Swallowing the last bite, she released a contented sigh. She pushed the wrapper into her bag and pulled out the bottle of lemonade. As she drank some lemonade and screwed the lid back on, something down the street caught her eyes.

There was a blonde girl, probably four or five, in front of a shop. The girl was twirling with a smile. After a few twirls, she stopped to look inside the display window of the shop and waved at a mermaid mannequin surrounded by sea life. Then, she twirled again, giggling.

Watching the little girl brought a smile to Cagalli's face. Then something occurred to her and she scanned the area. As far as she could see, there was no one who seemed to be the girl's parent, or caretaker.

Putting the bottle back into her bag, she picked up speed, walked up toward the girl, and bent at the waist.

"Hey, is your mommy or daddy nearby?"

The girl looked up at her, blinking, then looked around. The small face clouded. "Daddy..." Tears welled up in the girl's eyes.

Hurriedly, Cagalli crouched down to pull her into a hug. "There, there. It's all right." She gently patted the girl's back. "Don't worry. You're going to see your daddy soon. There, there."

After a while, she pulled away to see the girl's face. Although her magenta eyes were still teary, the girl looked like she had calmed down a bit.

Cagalli took out a small towel. Wiping the girl's face, she looked around again, but didn't find anyone seemingly looking for a child or coming toward them. There were only an old woman walking her dog and two young men who looked like college students; none of them were paying attention to her and the girl.

She glanced at her watch and bit her lip. It was already less than ten minutes until noon; even if she got on the bus right now, she would be nearly ten minutes late. If she stayed with the girl until the girl's father came, she would arrive even later.

Would Athrun still be waiting? Of course, she could call him after returning to her home, apologize, and tell him she liked him too. Still, she didn't want to make him wait that long, believing she had rejected him; he would be hurt. Furthermore, she wasn't completely sure he would forgive her for causing the misunderstanding. As a friend, she didn't doubt his forgiveness. But from what she heard, people tended to act differently when it came to romance from the way they acted toward their friends. He might say he didn't want to be her boyfriend anymore.

She looked in the direction of the bus stop, then at the girl who was rubbing her eyes, sniffling. She tightened her lips into a line. She couldn't leave a little child alone, especially a crying child. Even if Athrun would be angry at her, she had to make sure the girl would be all right.

She put on a smile and gently asked, "Do you like lemonade?"

The girl looked at her and nodded. Cagalli dropped the towel into her bag and fished out the bottle of lemonade. As soon as she opened the lid and handed the bottle to the little girl, the girl gulped down lemonade. After finishing the bottle, the girl looked like she was feeling better.

"What's your name?" Cagalli gently asked, collecting the bottle from the small hands.

"Stellar..."

She nodded. "I'm Cagalli. Stellar, is your daddy coming here to get you?"

"Stellar doesn't know..." The voice was small.

"Maybe your daddy gave you his phone number? Or your home number?"

Stellar thought a little, then brightened up. "Stellar has it!" She grabbed the small black bag on her back and put it down on the ground to search inside. Taking out a card with a princess and a dog on it, she held it out toward Cagalli with a proud face. "This!"

"Good girl." Cagalli patted Stellar's head before examining the card. There was a home number and a cell number along with Stellar's name.

The shop in front of them was closed and there weren't any open stores in sight, but she remembered passing by a few open stores in the next street. The staff would probably let her use their phone.

"Okay, Stellar, we're going to a store and call your daddy." She helped Stellar put her bag back on, then held out a hand toward the little girl. "Let's go."

Stellar took her hand and they started walking, Stellar waving goodbye to the mermaid.

According to what Stellar told Cagalli on their way, Stellar's older brothers had a baseball game and her family had been going to the game. Their car had been broken and they had had to take a train. While walking toward the baseball stadium, Stellar had "met" the mermaid and been "playing together" with the mermaid.

"Stellar loves the sea. Stellar wanna be a mermaid when Stellar becomes a grown-up," the little girl informed her.

"I see. You like swimming, then?"

"Stellar goes to a pool for a lesson," Stellar answered as they entered a grocery store and were welcomed by bright light and music.

"Good for you. Exercise like swimming makes you strong," Cagalli said to the little girl before asking a store clerk whether she could use their phone.

Listening to their situation, the woman took them to the manager's office where the manager allowed Cagalli to make the call. Stellar's father answered the cell phone quickly, sounding panicked. Cagalli explained that she had found Stellar and told the man the address of the store, which the manager told her. He said he would be there in five minutes and hung up.

Cagalli turned to Stellar. "Your daddy's coming." Sitting in a chair and licking a candy the manager had given her, Stellar nodded with a bright smile.

As she put the paper with phone numbers back into Stellar's bag, Cagalli's eyes wandered at a clock on the wall, which told her it was already noon, then toward the phone. She had a means to contact people; the store manager would surely allow her to make another call. The problem was, she couldn't remember Athrun's number.

Knitting her eyebrows, she jogged her memory. Kira's phone number would also be fine; she could make him call Athrun for her then. Her brain wasn't cooperating, however. The only numbers she remembered, aside from her own, were her home's, her mother's cell, and the number of Mendel Hospital where her parents worked. She shouldn't call her mother unless it was an emergency. Although this was emergency enough to her, she doubted her mother agreed.

Frustrated, she gave a slap to her head, partly hoping it would stimulate her brain and the numbers would spring back from oblivion. No such luck.

"Are you all right?"

Cagalli turned her face to the manager sitting in front of a desktop and looking at her oddly.

"Yeah, I'm just trying to recall my friend's phone number," she explained. "I was supposed to meet him at noon, but I forgot my phone and can't call him I'll be late."

The manager nodded with a sympathetic face. "You can go if you're in a hurry. We can take care of the little girl until her father comes."

The offer was appealing and she debated in her head for a little while, but shook her head. "No, thanks. I'm going to wait."

Stellar had become her responsibility at the moment she had decided to find the little girl's father. She shouldn't just abandon her responsibility like that. She needed to make sure Stellar was safely back with her family. Besides, it was only five more minutes.

Watching the manager return to working on the computer, Cagalli considered contacting her brother through the Internet. Athrun didn't like SNS much and rarely logged in even if he had an account, but Kira regularly checked his SNS accounts. But then, she had an access to the Internet only while she was in this office; it was unlikely she could get the hold of Kira during such a short time. Then again, it would be better than doing nothing. He might be online at the same time as she and instantly reply to her.

She opened her mouth to ask the manager, but a knock on the door prevented her. The manager called out the invitation. As soon as a shop clerk opened the door, a blond man passed by him and entered the office, followed by two boys in baseball uniforms.

"Stellar!"

"Daddy!" Stellar slid down her chair and ran toward the man.

He opened his arms wide to catch her. "Thank gods. You scared the hell out of me."

The younger boy who had light blue hair made a big huff. "You're such a troublemaker, Stellar. You made us late for the game."

The older boy who had green hair elbowed his brother. " _You_ were supposed to be watching her, remember?"

The younger boy shrugged, looking away.

Watching the reunion, Cagalli was filled with more surprise than relief. She couldn't take her eyes off a gray mask covering the upper half of the blond man's head. She wondered whether it was a part of costume to cheer his sons on during the baseball game or something like that, though the rest of his clothes were ordinary. Then, she remembered what Nicol had once told her: one of his teachers in middle school always wore a mask. There must be more people wearing a mask daily than she had thought.

As she reached the conclusion and nodded to herself, Stellar's father turned to her, holding his daughter in his arms. "You must be the one who found Stellar. I can't thank you enough."

She smiled at him. "No problem. I'm glad now she's okay."

Thanking the manager, she and the family left the store. On the sidewalk, Stellar's father thanked her again and Stellar waved her hand.

"Bye, Stellar. Enjoy the baseball game, guys!" Cagalli waved back before starting to run.

It didn't take her long to get to the bus stop. Stopping, she glanced at her watch and her eyes started to move over the timetable, but then, were drawn to a white paper posted on the stop. As she assessed the information, her mouth hung open.

She was frozen for a while before muttering, "You gotta be kidding me."

The paper was a notification saying buses ran on a different schedule during holidays, from December 24 till January 3, which included today. Well, it in itself wasn't a surprise or necessary a bad thing. The problem was that according to the holiday schedule, a bus that could take her to her destination wouldn't come for another hour.

She balled her hands into fists, feeling like punching something. Unfortunately, she couldn't find anything punchable. Sending a murderous glare to the notification paper, she tried to figure out what to do.

Should she give up and go home? She would probably get to contact Athrun faster that way. But what if...what if he was still at the cafe?

Her mind wandered back to when he had asked her out, and her lips formed a firm line. Athrun had told her to come to the cafe if she liked him the way he did her. And she did like him. So she was going there no matter what. Even if he would be long gone by the time she arrived.

The question now was how to get to her destination. She concentrated, then brightened up as she remembered Stellar's story. The little girl had said her family had taken a train and Cagalli remembered seeing a train station nearby. There was also a train station near her school, and she surely could go to that station from the station near here, right?

With a determined face, she crouched down to make sure the shoelaces were fine. It was a good thing, after all, that she had not had time to put on her new boots and was wearing a pair of sneakers instead, considering the amount of running she had had and was going to have today. Jeans weren't the best outfit to run in, but it would have to do.

She stood up and ran at full speed. She wasn't familiar with the area, so she headed for a wide street first, then ran down it toward the general direction of the station. As she neared, she caught a glimpse of rails. She continued and reached a crossroad. Waiting for the lights to change, she looked around and found a train station not so far. She smiled, breathing hard, and run across the road as the light turned green.

Luckily for her, it was a somewhat big station with staff. She grabbed one and asked how she could get to SEED High. He told her which train to take and which station to get off at. Throwing a thanks at him, she headed for the ticket gate, her hand pulling out her transportation card.

Before she passed through the gate, though, someone called out.

"Cagalli!"

She turned around to find a purple-haired man running toward her. "Jona?" Grinning widely, he ran into her, his arms circling around her tightly. "Wha—" She tried to push him away, but he wouldn't release the hold of her.

"It's so nice to see you," he said excitedly.

She had become acquainted with him at parties her grandfather held at his home. His father was a politician like her grandfather and Jona accompanied his father to the parties. But Jona was several years older than her and they had never been close. For some reason, however, he had suddenly begun showing an interest in her last year.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, still struggling to get out of his arms.

"I had a business to take care of in Father's stead, which of course went well."

He stuck out his chest in a proud manner, giving her the information she had not asked nor cared. But she was actually thankful of it for she succeeded in freeing herself while his attention was on himself instead of her.

"I was driving by the station and saw you running into it," he continued, closing the little distance she had put between them. "It's a sign from Haumea that I should take you to driving."

She took a step toward the gate, on her guard. "Sorry, but I have to go. I'm late for meeting someone."

He waved a finger at her. "Oh, no, no, Cagalli, honey"—his tone and use of pet name made her skin crawl—"you shouldn't fight your destiny. We are meant to be and you're gonna come to my arms sooner or later. So quit playing hard to get."

She narrowed her eyes in irritation, feeling like yelling at him how stupid he was. But before she started ranting, her ears caught the voice coming over the PA system and her head whipped in the gate's direction. The announcement was about the train she was supposed to take; it was leaving soon.

Feeling a hand grabbing her arm, she instinctively tried to jerk the arm away, her head snapping back to Jona. She failed to free her arm and he gave her a smug smile.

"Now, behave yourself and come with me."

"Let. Me. Go," she gritted out. "Or I'll make you."

At parties, her brother helped her escape from Jona. The last time, Kira had spilled his juice on Jona's suit, feigning an accident, so that she could sneak away while the man was distracted. Jona had made quite a fuss about his ruined suit and become busy blaming her brother and trying to wipe the juice, completely forgetting her. Later, Kira had reported details of Jona's reaction to her and they had gotten a good laugh out of it.

But now, she was on her own. And Jona didn't seem to be giving up his attempt. Instead, he shook his head with a dramatic sigh.

"What have I told you, Cagalli? You should start acting and speaking like a lady. I've been overlooking your attitude since you're still young, but I wouldn't be so generous if you—"

Shutting her ears to him, she inwardly apologized to her grandfather. She would call him and directly apologize to him as well, but she really needed to get rid of Jona and she had no idea how to do it peacefully.

So she lifted her leg and kicked his shin. Not with her full strength, but enough to cause him strong pain. He made a weird sound—a funny sound actually, if she wasn't so annoyed—and his hands flew to his leg, releasing her.

Quickly turning around, she hurried through the gate without a glance at Jona who must be writhing in pain by the sound of it. At least, she had avoided kicking his groin, as a sign of respect to her grandfather.

She ran down the stairs to the platform, glanced at the signs, and dashed into a train car while the departing bell was ringing loudly. The doors had already started to shut and she had to slip through between them. Still, she was safely inside the car, on her way to her destination.

Feeling relieved and tired, she slumped into a seat to rest her head against the glass and released a long breath.

She patted her arm, feeling like the skin under sleeves were still a bit creeping, and made a face. Receiving unwanted romantic attention, especially from someone you didn't like, wasn't a pleasant experience. She wondered whether she would act differently if it was Athrun, but couldn't imagine him acting like Jona.

At the thought of Athrun, her chest tightened. Was he still at the cafe? Was he sad that she had not shown up? He wasn't crying, was he?

She shuffled in her seat, wanting to hurry up. But she couldn't do anything other than willing the train to run fast. She looked at her watch, then at the route map on the wall. It was twelve minutes past noon and there were four more stations to go. Not to mention she had to run from the station to the cafe.

The way to the station nearest her high school felt unbearably long. The train didn't move as fast as she would like; on the other hand, the hands of her watch did faster than she would want them to. Five minutes passed. Then another five minutes. But they were still not at the station. She kept glaring at her watch until the name of the station was finally announced.

Leaping from her seat, she took a position near the doors, ready to run out. She practically pushed the doors open as she wiggled through them. Getting out of the station was easy; it was a rather small station and there weren't many people. However, as soon as she stepped on the sidewalk, she remembered what she had forgotten. Her high school was at the top of a hill and buses came near the top, but the train station was at the bottom of it. Running up all the way would take more time than she had expected.

Clenching her teeth, she broke into a run. The goal was almost there. She just needed to make a final push. Since she had never walked around this part of the hill—and she tried to find shortcuts—she made a few wrong turns and had to backtrack, which increased her frustration.

But she kept running up, up, up, and the streets finally started to look familiar. Turning around a corner, she found herself on the street where the main gate of her high school was. Her destination was only a block down.

Suddenly, however, her steps became heavy and she was almost walking now. Her legs were shaking and her lungs were burning after all the running, but it wasn't the reason why she wasn't running anymore. Now that she was nearly there, her fear was coming down on her. She lifted her left hand to check the time; it was almost five minutes before one.

Her sight started to blur and she forcefully blinked, telling herself it was just sweat getting into her eyes. She forced herself to keep moving. She had to get to the cafe and see with her own eyes that Athrun was no longer there. Otherwise, she couldn't go anywhere else.

Almost reaching the cafe, she laboriously raised her gaze from the ground, then stopped dead.

Only several steps away from her, someone was leaning against the wall of the building next to the cafe, with his head hung low and his shoulders slumped. Her heart rate starting to increase again, she stared at the midnight blue hair covering his face.

"Athrun...?" Her voice shook. She half believed it was only her imagination and would just disappear.

But he was still there and slowly lifted his head to reveal his face. He looked like he was as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

They stared at each other for a long minute.

"Why are you here?" she uttered, still unable to completely believe this.

He looked at her as if he couldn't believe her words. "I told you I'd be here. Did you doubt I'd keep my word?"

"No, I mean..." She tousled her hair, trying to gather her thoughts. "I thought you'd already left by now."

After a short silence, he asked in a guarded tone, "Would you rather I had?"

"No!" The word came out before she realized it. Because it was true. Because her heart didn't want him to get a wrong idea.

He had a surprised face which slowly melted into a warm smile. He looked truly and completely happy. She had never seen him like this, like he was brimming with joy, which squeezed her heart.

She closed their distance to fling her arms around his neck. "Thank you." She sniffled, pulling him even closer. "Thank you for being here."

After a moment, she felt his arms wrap around her body. "Always."

The hug didn't last long since a passerby bumped into them. Scowling at them and muttering something about "young people nowadays," the man strode away. They put some distance between them, embarrassed.

Her eyes wandered toward the cafe, her cheeks warm. "Hey, why weren't you inside by the way?"

"Well...since I was there for more than an hour, with just a cup of coffee, I felt uncomfortable. So I came outside."

She turned her eyes back to him with an apologetic face. "I'm so sorry I'm really, really late." She cupped his cold face with her hands. "We better get inside. You must be freezing."

With a smile, he stroked her hair sticking to her sweaty forehead with his fingertips. "It's okay. You came."

His touch was so gentle and she somehow felt shy, her cheeks turning hotter.

"Le-let's go." She pulled his arm and took a step in the cafe's direction, not looking at him.

She felt something cold fall on her cheek. Wiping it, she instinctively looked up, then stopped. From the cloudy sky, white flakes were falling down one by one.

"It's snowing!" she shouted with excitement and let go of Athrun's arm to wave her arms in the air, trying to grab snowflakes. It was the first snow of this winter.

"Do you think it's going to pile up?" She looked at Athrun, and her heart flip-flopped, her breath catching in her throat.

He was looking at her with a smile, his emerald eyes so warm and deep and beautiful. Mesmerized, she gazed back at him. White flakes were falling on his blue hair, decorating it. As if in trance, she reached out a hand to touch them; his hair was cold and silky. His smile deepened and his eyes turned even more dazzling as he gently caught her hand.

Her body went still, as if an electric current poured into it from his hand. A sensation she had never had before. Her face—no, her whole body started to heat up, but she couldn't take her eyes off him. Her heart was pounding so fast and loud, filled with joy and affection and amazement. She felt as if she had never really looked at him. She had never seen such passion in his eyes. She had never known he had been hiding it underneath.

He was surely a boy of winter. _Her_ boy of winter.

* * *

 **The End**

* * *

 **A/N** : Sorry there wasn't much fluff. This fic is more about Cagalli and her feelings for Athrun than about AC.

I'm writing a sequel, "Season of Farewell," and it will have more love scenes, though it will be angsty as well. I'll probably start uploading it in January.

Thank you for reading and the reviews, and hopefully, see you next month!

···

 **To PegasusInCage:**

Thank you again for all the reviews you wrote. Athrun took a while to realize he loved Cagalli partly because I love slow-burn romance and partly because in this universe, they didn't have extraordinarily dramatic events like those in the original series. So their feelings and relationship developed more gradually.

* * *

 ***posted 12/28/18***


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